"Tehuti Transcendent"

“Tehuti Transcendent”

Kerry Wright, 1997

Oils on Canvas

210cm x 120cm (7ft x 4ft)

To be gay back in the 1980s and 1990s was to live in constant terror of falling victim to a disease that would lead to an agonizing, disfiguring and premature death. We all became familiar with such exotic and bizarre expressions as “seroconvert”, a euphemism for “your death warrant has been signed and your execution imminent”. And we came to know all about “T-cells” and how many one should possess in order to survive. It was a time of considerable anxiety and of great sorrow. Many bright and beautiful young lives, filled to overflowing with exuberance and hope and promise and love, were snuffed out prematurely throughout that sad time.

In 1994 an excellent, albeit distressing and tragically poignant exhibition was held at the National Gallery of Australia. It was titled “Don’t Leave Me This Way – Art in the Age of AIDS”. After visiting the exhibition, I was inspired to create artwork of my own featuring the issue of living in a time when plague had descended upon the land.

In this large work, “Tehuti Transcendent”,  I have drawn upon my background in calligraphy to create a swirling vortex of gyrating calligraphic lines surrounding a central crucible within the painting’s composition, in which a portal has opened. From within that portal, a feather has emerged. Attached to the feather is a standard parcel label onto which is inscribed the letter “T” in calligraphic script. The “T” stands for “T-cells”. The more T-cells you have, the more likely it is that you will survive. The tag is tied to the feather with a red AIDS ribbon. The feather floats arbitrarily upon the thermals within the vortex, signifying randomly whether its victims will live when it rises or perish when it descends.

The title of the painting, “Tehuti Transcendent”, relates to the ibis-headed, ancient Egyptian god, Tehuti (aka Thoth). Tehuti is significantly a lunar deity with a highly complex cult. He has many titles, attributes and functions. For the purpose of this painting, however, he is specifically referred to as the god who gave the gift of hieroglyphs (calligraphy) to the ancient Egyptians. It also relates to his capacity to act as intermediary between life and death, good and evil, this world and the next, and thus transcending each.

“Tehuti Transcendent” was entered in the Sulman Prize in 1998, but not chosen for hanging.

"Gloria in excelsis David" (Detail)

"Gloria in excelsis David" (Detail)

Kerry Wright, 1996

Oils on Canvas

120cm x 90cm (4ft x 3ft)

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"Gloria in excelsis David"

"Gloria in excelsis David"

Kerry Wright, 1996

Oils on Canvas

120cm x 90cm (4ft x 3ft)

This large abstract was commissioned by my friends, David and Craig. They had moved to a smart city apartment here in Sydney and were keen to establish their own contemporary art collection. I had previously painted David’s portrait and they were looking to acquire a bright, exuberant abstract, which portrayed aspects of their individual personalities and also their life together as a couple. That was my brief. I have been interested in calligraphy from an early age. During the 1980s-1990s, I ran my own calligraphy business as a sideline. I counted several academic institutions and hospitals amongst my clientele, primarily engraving graduands'  names onto academic certificates and diplomas. The advent of the computer with its many and varied font types put an end to that. I approached David and Craig’s commission by way of my background in calligraphy. The bold, swirling black lines, which dominate the composition, spell out their intertwined names, albeit cryptically. As for the title, “Gloria in excelsis David”, it is a play on the words of the Gloria, from the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. A tribute to David’s Irish ancestry, as well as to his cheeky, impious sense of humour.