“Rain on the Parade” began originally as an etching, two years ago at the Toronto Open Studio. A finalized work never emerged though, as the plate didn’t inked properly and the resulting images were too indistinct. I still have those “test” prints however, and the concept stayed in my mind all this time. It was finally reborn, ironically, on the week of Jan 15th when everyone seemed to be running for cover as the stock markets fell.
Strangely, on the day the work was completed I watched a program on PBS about the history of photography that included a startlingly similar work by Henri Cartier - Bresson, “Decisive Moment”. Taken in 1913, this photograph is considered his most famous single image; primarily because of the prescience it seemed to embody. It is a visual commentary of the times, in much the same way as “Rain on the Parade” also became, quite unintentionally. Though, in this case, the original meaning of Parade is very English, it refers to a row of shops; the cobbles are presumably the pavement in front.

Triumvirate, part of a series exploring the various characteristics of modernism, looks at the idea of fragmented time. Firstly, the concept of this small grouping, a triumvirate, from its roots in ancient Rome to a modern day counterpart; secondly, in the repetition of the groupings of three - most notably, the individuals fractured in present time. The three figure in the foreground I tied together as a unit by synchronizing their movement – notice the sequential positioning of the limbs, and the heads of the first two characters turning towards a locus of action: the last figure engaged in conversation on his mobile phone. The structure of the canvas is also in the same vein as Hall of Mirrors but in this case it is an unsettling, perfect square. A shape echoed numerous time within the composition, disintegrating (or emerging) from a pixilated, almost cubist world at the far side of the square.

This painting is literally a work of "Reconstructivism"; a visual representation of the move away from extreme forms of modernism, specifically, minimalism and deconstructivism. The painting has an overall feeling which emulates, to some degree, one of my favourite modern British artists, David Hockney. Specifically, his works from the early seventies, paintings such as Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy. The setting for this work is one of the city squares in my home town of Leeds. Immediately to the right of this scene (just outside the frame of view) is The Henry Moore Museum, and the city’s art gallery and museum “Triumvirate” and “Walk now” as works of "Reconstructivism"

Recently the term "Reconstructivist" has been applied almost exclusively in the areas of Film, Music, theater Graphic Novels. A few examples can be found in sculpture too, in the field of paint however, Reconstructivism does not yet seem to have been generally recognized.

Among the earliest works of Reconstructivism, in painting at least, is the work “Glad Day”, created by William Blake in 1795. Blake is typically categorized as a Romanticist, and certainly that was the period in which he worked, when compared to his contemporaries though, his surrealistic style of painting (predating by many years the actual period of Surrealism) was in a class all it’s own. At a time before the “Ironic” and or cynical appropriation of images (and meanings), this is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of art. One could argue that this painting is the first modernist painting as it predates the works of Manet which, according to Clement Greenberg, are the first truly modern paintings. Blake’s use of DaVinci’s famous image, Vitruvian man, set an unintentional precedent. Prior to this time the appropriation of images and icons was done quite literally as a means of communicating the original message. The image might be interpreted to some extent but the meaning was not.

Subsequent “reconstructed” works all borrow, quite literally, the easily recognizable “icons” of classical and popular culture; this is one of the principal characteristics of reconstuctivism. All these works have a sense of Irony in their interpretation, albeit for the expression of some genuine idea. Unlike modernism, this is not the deconstruction and dismissal of that which went before – without an alternate vision – but the use of traditional iconography and ideas to express a contemporary perspective.

My own work differs significantly in that the use of icons and archetypes is more ambiguous. It is not so much the reproduction of a literal work but an allegorical representation – similar, though more easily recognizable, than in Post-classicism. The narrative and meaning, however, need not be interpreted entirely within the context of the scene in which they appear. In undeniably modern fashion, the apparent interpretation isn’t necessarily the only one.

Reconstructivism is not yet a movement that has been fully recognized; it is one of a number of Post-deconstructivist, hybrid art forms. As the art world is still very much in a modernist mindset and painting itself is considered something of an “outmoded” form of expression (Philip Ball – TVO’s leacture series and, among others, Douglas Crimp in his essay, The end of painting). Times are changing though; just a couple of years ago one could only guess at where the visual arts were going – it did seem that some fusion of earlier influences would be the most likely "next step". As Reconstructivism has established itself in so many other areas – Film, theater and graphic novels primarily – I think it is only fair that painting should not be exclused.

Triumvirate is a conscious reaction to Deconstructivism and Minimalism, a deliberate Post-deconstructivist work that literally, and figuratively, pulls away from the more extreme forms of modernism. The abstraction in this work then is not a deconstruction, but a starting point out of which a new vision emerges. The abstracted central space, which is literally the white under-painting of the canvas, “reconstructs” into a representational, borderline photo-realistic work. Realism once again, and all the classical techniques that realism embraced, emerges out of the deconstructed, minimalist forms as this new approach to Reconstructivism asserts its own artistic values.

After reading the background of an earlier, related painting “Walk-now”, which was based on a scene from the 1999 film “The Matrix”, one viewer of “Triumvirate” likened this painting to another scene in this same movie: “The construct”. A blank, computer generated space, or framework, into which the characters can program life-like representation of the real world or, in the case of the film, a simulated version of reality which is the Matrix.

Similarly, this painting is an intermediary state, fusing realism and abstraction to create a “virtual” life-like setting; one that leaves empty spaces of potentiality into which the viewer can project his own content or meanings.

Triumvirate embodies many of the attributes listed above; indeed, most of my works are, to some extent, “reconstructed” - my perceptions of the world around me. The two works I mention here however, go beyond the definitions that currently exist. Reconstructivism in painting has not changed in a substantive way since 1795 and thus, I felt my own take on the subject warranted a modification of that description; the first, and most logical, was “Neo-reconstructivism”. In much the same way as Neo-classicism accepts and then builds upon the foundations of classicism, “Neo-reconstructivism attempts, more than 200 years later, to move beyond the first conception of “Reconstructed” art.

The original text for this painting when shown at the McKay house Gallery as I work in-progress, 2007.

Triumvirate, at its most basic is an exploration of Fragmented time. Firstly, the concept of this small grouping, from its roots in ancient Rome to a modern day counterpart; secondly, in the repetition of these groupings of three - most notably, of three individuals fractured in time. The three figure in the foreground I attempted to tie together as a unit by synchronizing their movement – notice the sequential positioning of the limbs, and the heads of the first two characters turning towards a locus of action: the last figure engaged in conversation on his mobile phone. The structure of the canvas is also in the same vein as Hall of Mirrors but in this case it is an unsettling, perfect square. A shape echoed numerous time within the composition, disintegrating (or emerging) from a pixilated, almost cubist world at the far side of the square. The figures are much looser than in Hall of Mirrors, again, it was that spontaneity I hoped to capture and, though I may work up some of these further, it will only be where absolutely necessary. The paintings has an overall feeling which emulates, to some degree, one of my favourite modern British artists, David Hockney. His works from the early seventies especially, paintings such as Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy. The setting for this work is one of the city squares in my home town of Leeds. Immediately to the right of this scene (just outside the frame of view) is The Henry Moore Museum, and the city’s art gallery and museum.