House of Ecstasy

A room full of stencils depicting the downfall of over indulgence

During my research of Greek and Roman statues I came across these themed estates, one was named the House of the Stag and the other the House of the Faun. I liked the idea of this house that exists with a theme, that there can be one central piece which then has a surrounding of related works, mosaics and other statues. That led me to think of what figures I could explore and what interesting surroundings I could place them in. This became the House of ecstasy. With Dionysus the God of wine surrounded by Satyrs and mosaics depicting indulgence. They're all crashing, the parity is over. I placed the piping fawn outside to lead you into the House of ecstasy and then you see the good times crashing down all around you.

418 x 330cm Hand cut stencil spray painted on a primed surface.

The centrepiece of the House of ecstasy. Dionysus stands in the middle of the room, eyes almost judgmentally staring across at the two mosaics. This piece stands four meters high nn a wall that I primed with a technique intended to preserve the texture and the atmosphere of the lost place the painting was made in. The grubbiness of the wall, the scratches the marks. I rolled mixed red paint with 90% water and 10% with a pretty grimy roller gently over the surface, then splashed it onto the wall, controlled the drips and built up the colour until the whole wall was transformed to place the stencil on top of it afterwards.

Dancing fauns

130 x 250cm Hand cut stencil & mixed freehand styles on wall

The two dancing fawns stand on either side of Dionysus in these arches that I made using mixed techniques. Spray painted stencils and throwing balloons full of paint at the wall in a kind of a nod to the walls in Chemnitz from the previous year. The arches I found initially in the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin and I thought they were great placeholders for the statues.

Vase of flowers

50 x 70cm, 18 x Hand cut stencils on wall

Originally I wanted to create a series of mosaics to compliment the statues in the house, unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to learn this technique in time to produce the quality I hoped to bring, so my compromise was making stencils that looked like mosaic. This ‘Vase of Flowers’ references the painting by Jan ‘Velvet’ Brueghel. I was fascinated by the inclusion of animals and insects in the still life. IT had a presence to it that suited the House of ecstasy, and my allegory of the munchies plan for the mosaics. Changing all the flowers to a more recognisable plant gave it it’s place as the first piece in the set.

Saturn devouring a kebab

50 x 70cm 10 x Hand cut stencils spray painted on wall

The next mosaic is my take of Goya’s Saturn devouring his son. This coupled with the previous piece come together to create the allegory of the munchies.

The Piping Faun

94 x 200cm Hand cut stencil painted on wall

I first saw the piping faun statue in the Crawford gallery’s Canova collection in Cork, which is where I first decided I wanted to use statues as a reference for these exploding images. I thought the best placement for this piece was just outside of the door, the idea that the music is leading you into the madness, to the other fauns, to the place of indulgence, as it would in the mythology.

60 x 65cm Hand cut stencil spray painted on a cracked wall