- 21
Henry Hudson
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Description
- Henry Hudson
- Plate 5, The Marriage
- varnished plasticine on board
- 183 by 245cm.; 72 by 96 1/2 in.
- Executed in 2014.
Catalogue Note
The Marriage scene in the series shows Young Sen in church with his now wife Roberta Weinstein. Paralleling William Hogarth’s own marriage scene from A Rake’s Progress, where Tom Rakewell marries an older woman for her fortune, the present plate’s composition is based on Raphael’s Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (1509-10). Here, the prophets and saints of the Old and New Testaments that seat around the throne of Christ have been substituted by Sen’s new idols and memories of his past. William Blake’s The Ancient of Days (God as an Architect) from 1794 stands at the centre.
Surrounding him are visions of the idyllic island of Mustique, yachts that seem to navigate the skies, cars, symbols of wealth and luxury and even Elmgreen and Dragset’s Prada Marfa from 2005, perhaps as an allegory to the commodification of art. Sen’s parents stand at either side of the heavenly semicircle, portrayed here as Adam and Eve, but each holding objects that symbolise consumerism. In black and white, and emerging from under the Chinese and American flags are images of Sen’s own past, one that he wishes to hide and forget. The rest of the composition echoes Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510), with the painting’s globe-like fantastical fountains crowning Sen’s dreamlike visions to represent fertility and his hopes to form a family. At the centre Young Sen carries his bride in his arms. They are surrounded by a variety of characters, mainly Roberta’s inner circle of socialite and fashionable friends, but also photographers, preachers, and representatives of the Scientology Church. References to contemporary and historical works of art abound, as with Marc Quinn’s depictions of orchids at the background of the composition, or Alonso Cano’s The Miraculous Lactation of St Bernard from 1650 to the left.
Surrounding him are visions of the idyllic island of Mustique, yachts that seem to navigate the skies, cars, symbols of wealth and luxury and even Elmgreen and Dragset’s Prada Marfa from 2005, perhaps as an allegory to the commodification of art. Sen’s parents stand at either side of the heavenly semicircle, portrayed here as Adam and Eve, but each holding objects that symbolise consumerism. In black and white, and emerging from under the Chinese and American flags are images of Sen’s own past, one that he wishes to hide and forget. The rest of the composition echoes Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510), with the painting’s globe-like fantastical fountains crowning Sen’s dreamlike visions to represent fertility and his hopes to form a family. At the centre Young Sen carries his bride in his arms. They are surrounded by a variety of characters, mainly Roberta’s inner circle of socialite and fashionable friends, but also photographers, preachers, and representatives of the Scientology Church. References to contemporary and historical works of art abound, as with Marc Quinn’s depictions of orchids at the background of the composition, or Alonso Cano’s The Miraculous Lactation of St Bernard from 1650 to the left.
The Marriage confirms Young Sen’s complete transformation and embracing of the new lifestyle he has been exposed to. No longer the shy student that was preparing for a future of academic brilliance, Sen is now enjoying a life of luxury and debauchery, having forgotten his humble origins.