MELENCOLIA 1 (after Dürer), 2018 | pencil on paper | 540 x 390 mm
Melencolia 1, after Dürer is set within a geometric mesh in several locations and time periods at once. Dürer’s solid (the large cuboid shape on the right hand side) is mapped onto the centre of the Milky Way, which extends its band of light and shadows forming the banks of clouds on the horizon of an ocean. Dürer’s sleeping dog is awoken here and stands as the Dog Star (Canis Major) on a beach, its shadow (the Dark River to Antares) stretching towards an impression of Dürer’s main figure, the personification of melancholia or geometry. Washed up plastic pollution and sea creatures and the dead bird replace the scattering of tools and instruments in Dürer’s master print. Diatoms, diamonds, Plankton, instruments and tools are dispersed from a comets tail and follow the trajectory of a rainbow towards an alchemists sinking crucible and a pyramid (energy) inside a cube (gold) symbolising transmutation. Alchemy here is used as a metaphor for our insatiable need for transformation.
MELENCOLIA 1 (after Dürer) detail (the Dog Star and the Dark River to Antares)
MELENCOLIA 1 (after Dürer) detail
MELENCOLIA 1 (after Dürer) detail (the personification of melancholia or geometry)
PAUL HAZELTON 