Paintings 2013-14
Like ancient fables or morality plays, much of the work carries with it intentional warnings. In this sense the paintings have a purpose and inherent intention. In the series of works ‘Landscape with a man bitten by a snake’ Puig references Nicolas Poussin. Like ‘Boy bitten by a lizard’ the works serve to caution and advise. ‘You lads there, gathering flowers and strawberries from their earthly beds, take to your heels! There’s a clammy snake lurking in the grass.’ Virgil’s eclougues III, 92-3 The series of works ‘Boy bitten by a lizard’ recall and evoke the hyponymous painting by Carravagio. This depicts an androgynous boy theatrically recoiling as he is bitten by a concealed salamander hidden in fruit and a bowl of flowers. The salamander had phallic connotations in late 16th century Italy while the Jasmine and the Rose symbolised carnal love. An interpretation of this painting therefore could be to beware of beauty for within it lies suffering and pain. ‘The lizard that is biting his finger is a symbol of, as it were, the poison chalice of his lover who has given him the clap.’ Andrew Graham Dixon