Restoration I Print

This is the first piece in the series titled 'Restoration'. In these works, I explore the ideas of remembrance, recreation, and revision as active interactors with a subject's existence and/or evolution. The subject of this work is a retired military officer who once served as a Mameluke of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, a reincarnation of Egypt's famed order of slave warriors. He is seen here in full uniform as he was photographed in Paris some time in the 1850s, decades after the end of his military career. He wears the St. Helene medal, proof of his participation in the Napoleonic Wars. He, along with the handful of veterans alive, celebrated the past that day by having formal portrait photographs taken, for reasons not known to historians today. I first drew the portrait in ink on canvas, and then I threw inks over it and bleached it until it could hardly be seen. I then redrew the portrait along whatever was left visible. Then I bleached it clean again, and redrew the portrait, again. I put gold leaf around the figure, and then I oxidised it until it was barely there. Then I reapplied the gold leaf, and oxidised it again. Then I filled in the faded inks. The true process of the artwork was an exercise in restoration. Some of it changed and some of it stayed. The image evolved every time it was remembered and recreated. At the end of the day, all narratives are contemporary fiction.

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

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.