Several faces are painted not once but twice in the same picture. Each legend celebrated over and over as two portraits, side-by-side, living together as one artwork; traditionally a diptych. A pair. Double the meaning double the fun. Respectively twins as unique as Esau and Jacob, Romulus and Remus, Apollo and Artemis. Ronnie and Reggie Kray. Sacred love on the one side and profane love on the other - significantly philosophical and psychological it’s the ‘psychologist’ in McAlpine Miller, “suggesting different characters behind the paintings.” The ‘good-cop bad-cop’, Jekyll and Hyde, Abbott and Costello ‘other side’. It’s about the complex relationship we have with ourselves; me, myself and I. As McAlpine Miller says, “It’s been said, that to be a genius, there must also exist 'A Personality Defect'. Whether this is entirely true is a question for debate. It can be revealed however that some talents do have certain personality traits which, in some cases, have led to untimely deaths. I want to explore all possibilities without conclusion. After all, asking the question can only produce half the answer.” Which is why McAlpine Miller’s double- portraits are so efficacious. Certain McAlpine Miller double-portraits remind me of Andy Warhol’s blotted-line prints. Warhol printed them to create an image that’s repeated
in reverse, the right-hand side a mirror image reflection of the left-hand side. As in McAlpine Miller’s double-portrait where each dearly departed soul looks protected by the shadow of their ‘other self’ - their neighbour, as the second commandment says, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. McAlpine Miller says, “The idea that we have someone watching over us is a constant theme within these works. Almost suggestive of a guardian angel. Symbolised as the one watching over the vulnerable side of the main character.” Making you look twice, the portrait multiplied by two, equals a stereophonic Holy Ghost. As powerful as Popeye with his spinach keeping you ‘strong to the finich’, and Superman flying high keeping you safe past safety lines and safety pins to ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’. Little things in the bigger picture of life inspire McAlpine Miller; 1950s American comic book cult heroes; the vintage and the retro; bonbon- colours so brilliantly luminous each looks like a Dan Flavin neon. I’ve said McAlpine Miller is tomorrow’s Old Master-in-Waiting creating a ‘newness’ to portraiture in his 4D signature style I call ‘SuperNatural Realism’. Making ‘Split Personalities’ more than pictures they are biographies in paint.”
© Estelle Lovatt FRSA
Roxy Winterburn COMING SOON limited edition sculptures by
Reflected Glory Deckle-edged Giclée On Paper | Edition of 95 Image Size 102cm x 74cm | Framed Size 132cm x 104cm £995 Framed
Altered Imagination Deckle-edged Giclée On Paper | Edition of 95 Image Size 102cm x 74cm | Framed Size 132cm x 104cm £995 Framed
98 FINE ART COLLECTOR AUTUMN/WINTER 2020
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