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ColinWatson (b.1966)
The Living Room
Oil on canvas, 111.7 x 86cm (44 x 33.8”)
Signed
‘It has …the privilege of leaving no-one indifferent; it has an enigmatic side that
escapes most people, something strange that surprises. All that I know is that it
is imprinted with an irresistible and poignant poetry to which one submits and
which escapes all analysis and reason. For me, it is quite a poem’
Émile Cardon, 1881
These words, written by Émile Cardon, on seeing Puvis de Chavanne’s contribu-
tion to the 1881 Salon,
Poor Fisherman
, are equally relevant to the work of Colin
Watson. Like de Chavanne, he is an artist who feels deeply and who knows how
to express his depth of feeling. Like Stéphane Mallarmé, he is a poet who has
knowledge of ‘the joy of contemplating and delighting in the eternal within the
very moments of one’s life.’ In place of schemes and tropes he wields patterns and
abstractions to highlight for his viewer the signs of the eternal and the divine in
nature. He sees a divine unity in all things. His work incarnates the words of the
11th-century Persian Sufi mystic, Al-Ghazzali, who wrote: ‘The visible world
was made to correspond to the world invisible and there is nothing in this world
but is a symbol of something in that other world.’ By heightening the earthly to a
heavenly archetype, he leads us back to our origins. Just as the visible reflects the
invisible, the rhythm of Colin’s figures reflects the rhythm of their settings. All
is in harmony and hence in repose. This stillness and solitude, this self-contain-
ment speaks of meditation, of soul-searching. The monumentality of the figures
renders them powerful presences which yet are introspective and unchalleng-
ing to the viewer. We are allowed into their private moments; we are included,
welcomed into that moment. No barriers are erected so we feel accepted, even
wanted. We desperately need to be a part of this peace and tranquillity. It is akin
to an out-of-body experience, a drug-induced ‘dream for mortal hearts distilled
from divine opium’ (Baudelaire Spleen). We are outside our bodily selves; we are
true spirit.We let ourselves be steered by Colin since we trust his motives. He is a
Pied Piper using his patterns and colours to lure us into a trance. It is impossible
to resist! There is some sort of alchemy going on here – a benign witchcraft. We
are spell-bound by his enchanting vision which lures us back to our very origins.
His work pullulates with sensuality.We can almost smell the scents and hear the
insects.The sinuosity of his line which follows the body’s rhythms takes us back
to the Celtic artist whose concern, also, was with harmony and rhythm in their
spiritual service to nature and pagan magic. That we are brought back to a state
of beginning by a deep sensuality is supremely apt. Colin’s real inner peace gives
us something to hold onto: he completes the circle.
€4,000 - 6,000