Nick Clifford Simko and Aaron McIntosh

The tapestry on the left, “The Archers”, appropriates the composition of an eighteenth century painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds in the Tate Britain Museum. It is described by the museum as the following:

“Dressed in quasi-historical clothing invented by the artist, they are mimicking a medieval or Renaissance hunt…The painting celebrates the men’s friendship by linking it to an imaginary chivalric past, when young lords pursued ‘manly’ activities together against a backdrop of ancient forest. The two subjects run and take aim in perfect rhythmic harmony; at one with each other and joint masters over nature.”

Simko and McIntosh used this elaboration of the original painting’s themes as a way to recontextualize them in a contemporary light. Instead of wearing historical costume they wear their own clothes and take uncertain aim in a forest inhabited by McIntosh’s soft sculptures. Unlike Reynolds’ painting where the hunted game is beyond the view of the frame, the artists chose to fill that void with another pictorially-linked tapestry at the right.

The  tapestry on the right, “The Quarry” does not directly reference an existing composition but rather the Christian story of Saint Sebastian. The saint was a Roman general who was persecuted for his Christian faith. His punishment was to be tied to a tree and used as the mark for target practice.  Historically the beauty of the martyr’s body is in stark contrast to the many arrows that fill its planes like a pin cushion. The erotic nature of this imagery paired with the act of penetration has linked depictions of Saint Sebastian to the homoerotic. In this particular tapestry, the saint has been re-imagined as a collaged figure composed of many different body parts sourced from gay pornographic materials.