Description
‘Mater Dolorosa’ by Declan Lee
Artist: Declan Lee
Title: ‘Mater Dolorosa’
Medium: Pastel on paper
Dimensions: 18.3″ x 13.5″
Framed: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2024
About the Artwork:
“The ‘Mater Dolorosa’ or ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ depicts the suffering of the Virgin Mary for her son. The subject appears in art as early as the Byzantine era and was often paired with the “Man of Sorrows”. The fire coming out of the heart represents the intensity of Mary’s love, the roses her purity and the sword the sorrows she endured in her lifetime. The rays of light refer to her description in Revelation as ‘a woman clothed by the Sun’. The blue cloak or mantle represents purity, the colour, being that of the heavens was worn by Byzantine royalty. The reddish purple tunic symbolises love, passion and devotion.” – Declan Lee
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
I was born in 1973 in Southport, England. After moving to Australia I studied classical art at the Adelaide Central School of Art and completed my Bachelor of Design in Illustration at the Underdale campus of the University of South Australia. After an award winning but soulless career as an Illustrator I have focused on establishing myself as an artist.
I work exclusively in pastel for its immediacy and delicate, vibrant colour. The work draws its inspiration from my interests in the esoteric symbolism and archetypal language of the Tarot, Hermeticism, Mythology and religious art that speaks to the viewer on a level that lies beyond language. Those symbols we understand intuitively, deeply rooted in the collective unconscious that find expression in dreams and myth. As they defy contrivance and seem to appear in the mind fully formed, the sketching of ideas is closer to memory than invention. Creating the finished art becomes a process of getting the ego out of the way and allowing the subject to take on a life of its own. For me beauty and truth are synonymous, and the end result should be a picture that allows the “other” to inhabit our world in all its vibrant immediacy.