Rupert Loydell's Latest from Shearsman Books
In Dear Mary, poet and painter Rupert Loydell (also a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing in our school) writes about art and life, and how they intersect.
“Dear Mary is a thrilling love letter to the way in which meaning inheres in the world and the word. Light-drenched Tuscany is suffused with mysteriously overlaid greys; for Rupert Loydell, it is a place where everything is ‘trying to imply ascension’. Moments of transcendence occur even when ‘We didn’t get to see the angel.’”
Fascinated by both renaissance and contemporary painting, he re-invents moments of annunciation in today's world, and revels in the colours and sunshine of Italy. This is a world of wonder and surprise, where aliens abduct the Virgin Mary, 20th century rock singers find themselves collaged together and singing about her, infinite greys (and grays) blur together between other greys, Francis Bacon paints angels, and even the weather forecast predicts the future.
Above all else, this is a book which celebrates language and art, and explores how we navigate the world around us, seen and unseen; how we might wonder, explain, and begin to understand.
“These pieces are ‘flakes of reverence’ or gaps for the numinous, gestures towards the missing tones and colours of angels, as Loydell meditates on these Italian icons, seeking whatever is outside the picture frame or beyond the truncated gestures.”
Dr Jim Harris, of the Ashomlean Museum, Oxford, provides a thoughtful contextual introduction to the book.
You can purchase the book via the Shearsman Books website.