The Cortege of the Magi

About

The atmospheric setting of Pie Factory’s Brick Space will  contain a series of recent paintings which express his  continuing fascination with the ancient pilgrim roads to Santiago, a series of journeys that he has repeatedly undertaken since 2003. The centrepiece of the exhibition will be entitled ‘The Cortege of the Magi’, a large-scale work directly inspired by a fragment of 12th-century sculpture currently housed in the museum of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The enigma of it’s appearance has been the inspiration for a number of paintings that Graham has undertaken over the years which feature three horses as the focus of this  subject-matter; that which continues to be an inspiration and a pivotal theme of these ‘pilgrim’ works. This new piece is likely to be the largest painting that Graham has attempted in his chosen medium, and hopes to adequately reflect the gravity of the sculpture that has directly inspired it. Working in acrylic, with overlays of egg tempera and often embellished with gold leaf,  Graham Ward continues to explore his  themes of Child Kings and Holy Fools, as well as his familiar painted bestiaries of birds and animal subjects.