‘The miraculous draught of fishes’
“I feel that a visual artist should not talk too much about his work because a good painting should speak in purely visual terms through form, colour and tone and should not need to be interpreted or explained. My paintings are not concerned with the surface appearance of people or things but try to express something of the fundamental spiritual reality behind this surface appearance. I try to express in visible form the oneness and unity of this invisible power binding all things into one whole. I do not illustrate Bible stories literally, as I am not interested in the places or people but try to express what I feel is the deeper significance of each story for every individual throughout all time.” – John Reilly (http://www.veritasse.co.uk/artists/john-reilly)
I became aware of Reilly’s work through Richard Harries book “The Image of Christ in Modern Art”, so impressed I was with his canvases that have a stained-glass quality. His artistic beginnings were in ceramics, and made a living on the Isle of Wight, where he also painted, steadily garnering a reputation until he adopted the practice fully in 1981. He preferred to try to represent the spiritual as opposed to the material world, something I believe he achieves. This is not something I particularly wish to do, and don’t think I can to be honest; Reilly’s work takes craft and an intelligence to work within two plains. His intention was to make a universal spiritual art accessible by all. His work isn’t without its detractors though, and a lot of his art becomes similar. In his later career the lines that represent the spiritual matter start to take precedence, and the primary subject matter can get lost, like the human Christ on the cross below.
“Crucifixion (2)”,
joemckennawk 