Obsession Print

The painting is a visual examination and a distillation of the semiautobiographical short story Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, first published in 1912. The concept is informed by the story's psychological and physical themes of haunting, repressed emotions and obsessions and the disintegration of the book's protagonist, Gustave von Aschenbach, a recuperating writer. The work seeks to capture the book's themes of rejuvenation disrupted as life's desires and realities collide in a claustrophobic and cataclysmic personal breakdown in Venice at the turn of the twentieth century. The 'X' motif signifies Gustave as a marked man whose doomed obsession with an unobtainable muse triggers personal disintegration in Venice at the intersection of reality and illusory. The colours evoke Venice's summer moods of light and heat, and the blues signify the Lido in The Venetian Lagoon. The work communicates the book's central themes of memory and the problematic quest to recapture lost youth, joy and freedom. Like the book, the painting positions the urban landscape of Venice as an entity, interwoven with characterisations and narratives of this modernist literary landmark.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:10 W x 10 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:15.25 W x 15.25 H x 1.2 D in

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