Borin Van Loon: A Butterfly on a Branding Iron

Borin Van Loon: Butterfly on a branding-iron

Butterfly on a branding-iron
(Oil on board with mixed media 2006-2008, 2'x4') details below:
Papillon 1

This large-scale work by Borin Van Loon was exhibited for the first time in May 2008. Here are some snapshots of parts of the work added over time to this mini gallery prior to the public exhibition of the whole painting. The reference points of this work centre around a scene from the 1973 Steve McQueen/Dustin Hoffman film 'Papillon' where the eponymous late actor is imprisoned in an underground cell, jumps up and grips the bars, hauls himself up to glare in defiance and deliver the immortal line: 'I'M STILL HERE, YOU BASTARDS'. Rendering of the colours and textures on the surface of the painting utilizes discreet marks, arabesques, lozenges, dashes, leaf shapes and random squiggles drawing inspiration from the pointillism of Seurat and mark-making of a variety of artists. The lettering of the dialogue from the film is created using a basic lettering stencil, the characters being cut from mounting board, the edges blackened with indian ink, then Araldited into position. The faces of the letters were then individually painted with marks to encourage them to be camouflaged against the backgrounds. The artist atests that the use of this piece of dialogue has no subtext, nor implication as to his own philosophical position.

The painting was exhibited at Ipswich Art Society 131st Annual Open Exhibition. Robert Cross Hall, Ipswich Corn Exchange from Monday May 12th to Friday 23rd May 2008.