Mixed media on canvas by Gavin Lavelle
33x48cm unframed
54x68cm framed in washed white frame with AR99 ArtGlass
More by Gavin Lavelle
Several things went into this piece. One was a notion of the folk art shrines which may have been used on long sea voyages in pre-modern times.
Another was the work of Mughal painting in particular the C17th court artist Ustad Mansur who painted birds and animals surrounded by borders of foliage and calligraphy.
I grew up near the sea and almost always have to have it in my paintings as a motif of terror and the sublime. I am fascinated with decorative ceramics from Asia and beyond, as much as I always have been by biological illustration, and try to let them coexist in the one artwork if feasible.
This is set in a wooden tray-box I made, and the painting is sealed in resin and behind AR99 ArtGlass.