Rome

Rome is a city of Angels. Wherever one looks, whether up close, far away, or out of the corner of one’s eye, there will be one. They can be both alarming and comforting to the viewer.

As one of the most enduring representations in western art, the angel has a long and varied history. Why has it been so dominant and insistent a motif? Compassion, hope, and transcendence come to mind. Metamorphosis, too. They strike me as an extraordinary conceit in the days of the Internet.

The bridge has the carried the weight of thousands of pilgrims for centuries as they crossed from the old city to St. Peters. The current version of the bridge was constructed during the papacy of Pope Clement IX in 1669. He commissioned Bernini to decorate it with 10 angels and the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. Bernini only completed two of the sculptures and his followers fabricated the remainder. Each angel carries an instrument from the passion of Christ.

While in Rome in October 2013, I went to the bridge and photographed the angels at dusk. Because of the direction of the light, half of the angels were in shadow and the other half in direct warm light. As I began this work, I started with formally contrasting the lit angels with the ones in shadow in close-cropped squares as diptychs. The color has supported this approach with contrasting warm and cool colors and neutral blue skies. In the watercolors I have experimented with Styrofoam as a mark-making matrix to suggest the surface of travertine, marble, or the decaying walls I saw in Rome.