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Alex Davern |
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Helena Shipway – The Architect
Some time ago my friend confessed to a recurring desire to have his portrait painted. People he told found his wish humorous or faintly absurd at best, a public admission of narcissism at worst. Although my friend is talented and dedicated to his profession, it will be years before he is described as notable, distinguished or well-known, and his interest in his own objectification struck an almost universal note of scandal, if not outright disgust. This reaction provoked my curiosity. Painting my friend’s portrait would present both a technical challenge (I have painted only landscapes previously), as well as the opportunity to collaborate with my friend on an unusual project at once playful and earnest. For a time, both subject and painter were beset with modesty and anxiety, and it seemed the portrait would become a memory of a joke; however, my friend’s partner eventually approached me to do the painting as a gift to him from her.
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