Ram's Head (with rocks and skeletons) 1968

Curator: This print is Graham Sutherland's "Ram's Head (with rocks and skeletons)" from 1968. It's a compelling image that merges figuration with the unsettling allure of matter-painting and surreal caricature. Editor: Gosh, that’s…intense. My immediate impression is one of morbid humor. Like a carnival funhouse mirror reflecting back existential dread. Those teeth! And the overall muted palette adds to the eeriness. Curator: I see that! Sutherland's exploration of the ram’s head is interesting here – in art, rams can be symbols of virility, of power, and of sacrifice. He inverts those traditional symbols. Those prominent teeth speak volumes about predatory instinct, or maybe even a self-devouring force. Editor: Right. There's a psychological element to the image— a confronting one! Look at the composition with that shelf of skulls and bones above the ram; it's like the conscious mind trying to categorize and contain primal, instinctual fears. Do you think there’s some self-portraiture at play here? Curator: Absolutely! He often explored themes of nature's decay and transformation. Placing those bones on shelves… He seems intent on ordering, cataloging, and therefore, rationalizing his own creative processes. By bringing that creative intensity and his deep fears together in one artwork, he asks: how much do our intellects shield us from what haunts us, and to what extent are we complicit in our nightmares? Editor: I notice also the rather soft colour palette contrasting so harshly with the bones and leering face—I wonder whether he was attempting to diminish or even soften the violence on display, but it just seems to amplify the contrast. The composition’s overall effect speaks of facing the ugly aspects of ourselves with an unexpected tenderness. Curator: An unexpectedly compassionate grotesqueness, yeah! By juxtaposing such disparate symbols—bones of mortality, distorted features and soft colours—Sutherland creates an unnerving yet profound space to contemplate. Editor: It gives the image a lasting grip, for sure. I will not soon be able to forget Sutherland’s twisted bestiary! Curator: Same. An icon lodged somewhere in my psyche.