Untitled (Judas)
Video Still.
2011
My work for ‘L’Ultima Cena’ uses the figure of Judas as its subject. In Sansoni’s painting (as with many other paintings of the Last Supper) Judas appears on the opposite side of the table from the other apostles. He is separated from the main group. And in this painting he is the only figure to look directly out at the viewer. In this he breaks the illusion of the painting and looks back to the viewer, challenging us.
For this work I have chosen to video record a print out of a photo taken of this figure, thereby drawing attention to the image as a construction, mediating a narrative that is itself highly constructed. Equally this ‘retechnologising’ of the painted image in video, puts the still figure into time, a time that closely mimics the actual time of looking. Judas is isolated in this new work, and he looks directly out at us, the viewers, that look back at him.
His gaze becomes one that questions the viewer’s assumptions: how easy is it to betray? what is betrayal? Can we be sure that we would never be weak enough to betray?In Sansoni’s painting Judas seems to be painted with incredible empathy, his face is not that of the scheming conniver, but a face rich with human depth, fragility and frankness.
To me this Judas is strangely modern; a complex and equivocal figure.
