Artist     Sonia Lawson
Title      Fallen Angels
Date      1987
object    Painting
Media    oil
Size      152.5 x 122cm
Ref         1195

A kind gift from the artist in 2005

Other websites featuring this artist's work
www.sonialawson.co.uk
www.royalacademy.org.uk
www.boundarygallery.com

Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels shows a tussle between two people . One figure, pulls backwards, the other forwards. The fervid desire to escape ‘arrest’ creates an extremely powerful tension, dramatically achieved by the fully stretched taught clothing and outstretched arms that tread the air trying to propel forward, while helped by the weight of the leaning figure itself inside the outer garment. One might be convinced that these two polarities of ‘pull’ are the sole subject, but the work isn’t an illustration per se, rather the subject is also a vehicle for enjoying paint for its own sake.

Lawsons robust later technique, ongoing from the mid 1990s, of plumping out paint, redolent of a growing, organic, fed thing began with ‘Fallen Angels’ (circa 1987) and other works of the same period engaged in handling painterly qualities. In this sense we’re dealing with the abstract even though the overall concern seems to be figurative.

By contrast, ‘Bound Prisoner’, the other painting by Sonia Lawson in the permanent collection, was made earlier circa mid 1970s and is a work of social comment and clearly seeks to illustrate mans inhumanity to man. The colour used is as stark and telling as the image.

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