Excalibur; Medusa and Merlin c. 1981

Robert Peak made this painting, Excalibur; Medusa and Merlin, using what looks like diluted acrylic on canvas or paper, a lot like watercolor. The dominant blues and greys are punctuated by a few fleeting hints of yellow. I can just imagine Peak in his studio, layering and layering these semi-transparent washes, building up the image bit by bit. There’s a real sense of something spectral about the painting, like a fading memory or a myth emerging from the mists. Thin lines are scratched on the surface adding to the feeling of ephemerality. I wonder what he was thinking about when he made this? Perhaps he was revisiting these myths and legends through the language of paint, letting them speak to each other in new ways. The gestures in this piece really communicate a feeling of otherworldliness. You can see how painting has been a way for the artist to explore themes of fantasy and imagination. Like the Pre-Raphaelites, he reinterprets well known stories through his own lens. Painting is like this embodied expression, embracing uncertainty and ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings.