Image of the Fish God 1956

Editor: This is Alan Davie's "Image of the Fish God," currently residing in the Tate Collections. The composition feels so weighted and symbolic. How do you interpret the formal elements at play here? Curator: Observe how Davie manipulates the materiality of paint itself. The textured surfaces, contrasting stark black and white against the subtle blue ground, create a visual tension. Semiotically, the forms invite decoding: the orb, the rectangle, the ambiguous "fish" shape. What is their relationship? Editor: It almost feels like a puzzle—the shapes themselves creating meaning beyond representation. Curator: Precisely. The structural interplay is paramount. The painting becomes a self-referential system, inviting us to consider the very nature of sign and symbol. It moves beyond a mere image of a god. Editor: I see. So, the painting itself becomes the subject, a conversation about form and meaning. Curator: Indeed. Davie compels us to look beyond the surface and engage with the underlying structure of visual language.