Patricia Cronin (1963 - )

According to artist Patricia Cronin, her visual translation of Inferno entitled, Dante: The Way Of All Flesh is a "meditation on the human condition in a post modern world where many of the same social issues - war, corrupt politicians, religious hypocrisy and strife, unstable economic markets and natural disasters still plague us." Cronin depicts her images using oil, watercolors and bleach, which give them a  sense of timelessness rather than any post modern definitiveness.

'One day to pass the time in pleasure,

we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him.

We were alone, without the least misgiving.

'More than once that reading made our eyes meet

and drained the color from our faces.

Still, it was a single instant overcame us:

'When we read how the longed-for smile

was kissed by so renowned a lover, this man,

who never shall be parted from me,

'all trembling, kissed me on the mouth.

A Geleotto was the book and he that wrote it.

That day we read in it no further.'

Canto V 127-138, Inferno

The Lustful: Canto V, Circle Two
   

The subjects of this rendering (composed by a technique in which the artist first paints in oil and then retraces her strokes in bleach) are the two lustful lovers, Francesca and Paolo. The faceless, naked duo seem to struggle against the edges of their delineations; indeed in places they meld together as if inflamed by some urgent primal need. A great deal of their torment appears to stem from the fact that their genitals are facing in opposite directions. Francesca reclines on the back of the man she "shall never be parted from" seeming more of an encumbrance than a paramour. Paolo bends under the weight of his burden as if resigned to never look into Francesca's eyes or see her smile again. Perhaps he lifts her in an effort to offer relief from the discomfort of the hell fire that must surely be roasting their lower regions. It's sad that a kiss, the thing that precipitated the star-crossed lovers' exile into Hell can never be realized again.


How clever of Ms. Cronin to employ this particular method; it literally supports the phrase "the color drained from our faces." In fact, the properties of the bleach and paint combined create a condition or splotch, which calls our attention to certain distinctions: Francesca's mouth which will never kiss her lover again; her breast that must surely be burning as the heat rises; her extremities - a hand that has melted and feet which are gaining a momentary respite from the blistering temperature; Paolo's rear end; and his semi-aroused penis.

Ironically, Cronin states this process may disintegrate the materials the artwork is made of over time, when exposed to light. This procedure is allegorical to the disintegration of the souls of the subjects  from the corruption of lust. In order to survive, corruption must remain in the dark much in the same way these bleach drawings should be shielded from the light of day.

Works Cited:

http://www.patriciacronin.net/press/meaning.pdf

http://attic-museumstudies.blogspot.com/2012/10/review-for-17-october-brown-bag-seminar.html

Robert Hollander Dante Inferno. 2nd ed. New York: Randon, 2000. Print.