A Study of Saint Francis: Ellie Cotton
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Overview
Ellie CottonLive Stream (Poor Clare), 2024Oil on Canvas30 x 20 cm
11 3/4 x 7 7/8 inGeneral Assembly is pleased to present A Study of Saint Francis, Ellie Cotton's debut solo exhibition. In this presentation Cotton explores Saint Francis, the 13th century ascetic preacher and founder of the Franciscan order, through a series of paintings set in contemporary and surreal contexts. A son of a rich merchant, Saint Francis renounced his wealth and his family ties, devoting his life to preaching to all creatures, including animals.
Cotton's curiosity about Saint Francis was sparked by a visit to the National Gallery's 2023 Saint Francis of Assisi exhibition, which surveyed depictions of the saint from the 13th century to the present. The artist was struck by Saint Francis' enduring appeal to artists, and the variety of ways he has been depicted for almost a millennia.
The National Gallery exhibition, and a trip to Assisi that followed, inspired Cotton to embark on her own artistic exploration of Saint Francis. Beginning with a series of drawings and culminating with the paintings in this presentation, Cotton places Saint Francis in contemporary contexts of her own imagining to absurd and playful effect. In the Cloud Upload series Cotton whimsically depicts Franciscans "uploading" data to the cloud through a game of parachute, drawing parallel references between renaissance works, where clouds convey spiritual and heavenly significance, and today's use of the term - where clouds are the storage units for everything digital.
In Restoration with Saint Francis, Cotton odes to monumental Renaissance paintings, with their vital scenes and rich symbolism. In the work,Saint Francis, toy plane in hand, is seen peeking out from underneath a table while two imposing bunnies stand above preparing a large airplane cake. The airplanes alludes to birds, to which Saint Francis often preached, as well as the concept of the painting as a metaphysical plane asserted by artists such as Philip Guston.
Beneath Cotton's humour is a thoughtful examination nature, religion and technology in contemporary society. Live Stream (Poor Clare) surreally depicts Saint Clare, the patron saint of media and television and the first female member of the Franciscan order. Rendered with a hammer head, a motif continued from a previous body of work, Saint Clare holds a birthday candle and is filmed by two Franciscans on a camera dolly; she has gone live to share a message with her followers.
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Installation Shots
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DOSSIER
Ellie Cotton’s playful engagement with the subject of St. Francis culminates in the large-scale painting Restoration Painting with St. Francis. While the size of the painting nods to monumental Renaissance paintings, the composition’s surreal components bring the 13th century monk into present day. The green tablecloth is pulled back to show St. Francis contemplating a small model airplane. Above him two massive figures iron and ice an airplane, complete with a piping bag and a clothing iron which flattens the airplane’s wing. Two clouds hover above the plane; this action happens in front of a wooden fence, further confusing the location of the composition.
In the painting Cotton effectively engages religious themes from the life of St. Francis, art historical dialogues, and allusions to contemporary life. The airplane which dominates the composition references the birds which St. Francis’ preached to when spreading Christianity to all creatures. The airplane takes on another meaning, however, as Cotton directly references Philip Guston’s investigation of the picture plane in his own painting practice. “I can’t rationalize it, I can’t talk about it, but know there’s an existence on this imaginary plane which holds almost all the fascination of painting for me,” Guston stated.1 While Cotton clearly engages with the cartoonish figures of Guston, she has established her own values through which her own fascination with painting is evident. Another painting from the series, Live Stream (Poor Claire), depicts two St. Francis figures behind a film camera. Their subject is a hammerhead figure, St. Claire, the patron saint of television and media. The paint’s surface is thin in comparison to that of Restoration Painting with St. Francis. Between the paintings in the series, Cotton’s variety of paint layers and brushstrokes demonstrate her constant approach to illustrate and translate her fascination with St. Francis, his life, and the Franciscan order. Vibrant colours and pink-bottomed monks populate Cotton’s paintings. With the creation of this series Cotton becomes part of the centuries-old dialogue between artists with one another and the narrative of St. Francis.
Restoration Painting with St. Francis stands out as a particularly unique painting in the series for its distinctly surreal nature. The large, half nude rabbit-headed women compositionally balance the painting without clarifying their role in the saint’s narrative. The brown picket fence in the background lends to the painting the feel of a “DIY” backyard project gone awry. While other works such as the Ring Light Studies and Cloud Upload series offer more direct references to contemporary culture, Restoration Painting with St. Francis suggests more questions than answers. In that regard the painting exists in the “imaginary plane” which Guston addressed in his own practice. Cotton paints St. Francis in his own state of imagination. The audience is left to its own devices to understand how St. Francis’ planes will take flight.
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