Catalogue Raisonné of Christian Furr

Men and Women

Six paintings were produced in the “Men & Women” series starting with ‘Red & Black” in 2006 and ending with “Flesh and Blood” being completed in 2011.

These works evolved out of the Kitchen sink period with its theatre of dynamics and the realist and personal depictions of Furr, his wife and friends. Models were used and an impersonality becomes prevalent as a theme.

2006 saw Furr become 40 years old. The depiction of the relationships between men and women turn from the dour realism of the kitchen sink into brightly coloured imagined scenarios using models in anonymous hotel rooms which may reflect not only the aesthetic of the decade but Furr’s personal mid-life period. In 2006 he also painted some small, quickly executed ‘joke paintings’ that deal with the theme of existence in almost comic book ways.

The K -West hotel in Hammersmith became the location for the ‘Men and Women’ series and sittings occurred here. The muted and limited palette of the nineties – the era of ‘grunge’ – changes to a brighter palette and bolder use of colour reflecting the more optimistic and glamourous fashions of the ‘Y2K’ period. Often Areas of brightly coloured fabric or material are included in the compositions to provide strong areas of colour and Furr quoted Titian and his paintings of brightly coloured gold red and blue cloth as a direct inspiration. Furr’s friendship with the shoe designer Terry de Havilland influenced the ‘Men & Women’ series with the inclusion of various high heeled De Havilland shoes. The fashion theme continued with the inclusion of a Tom Baker suit which had “Not For Sale” emblazoned on the back of the jacket which is featured in ‘Not for Sale 2006”. The hotel space provides a blank backdrop with its associations of service, anonymity and transience.  

The paintings within paintings or mirrors /windows that appear are reminiscent of Magritte and in Furr’s words were meant to ‘represent alternate realities’ in the surrealist fashion.

“I wanted to feature drapery as an element of the composition. In the 1700s there were specialist drapery painters which was like a craft. I like to see craft in Art as well as meaning. De Vinci did a tonal  study of some drapery that I love. I also love Titan’s way of painting sections of beautiful brightly coloured fabrics. The flowers appear as ‘vanitas’ ephemeral things.”

‘Step by Step’

I wanted to incorporate a dancer in the subject matter. Dance is  physical poetry. I wanted to depict movement. I wanted the male subject to be engaged in a kind of unfamiliar choreographed static move or step – almost as if engaged in a surreal courting ritual of the animal world – oblivious to our gaze and facing away from us-internalising. The girl is the one who looks directly/provocatively out of the painting/window (within a painting) at the viewer engages the viewer where the dancer is disengaged. They might be connected. I looked at Vermeer’s Girl with a pearl earring with its feeling of mystery for reference.

The pink shoes that appear in ‘Step by Step’ are ‘Butterfly Mules’ that Terry and Liz de Havilland made specially for my wife Emma. The people are Vidal Sancho and Esme Bianco.

‘Love Forever’

I was thinking of the poet Shelley. Words that were going through my head when I did this painting were ‘desire’ ‘love’ ‘freedom’- as a creator or lover. I have always admired the art films of the sixties. It was an inventive/free period . As an artist I am always having ideas for future works. The painting of the lovers that appears is a painting I planned in a widescreen format that is based on a still from ‘Zabriskie Point’ by Antonioni which dealt with themes of love, excitement and revolution

‘Not for Sale’

I wanted this to be a visual melody. There’s a lot going on in this painting that I couldn’t begin to talk about as I am not sure myself. There’s a musical theme. A busker in nowhere.

Ultimately the colours  and their symbolism play an important role. I would say its probably my most refined /distilled painting in the series. It was originally called ‘Fall Off’ with reference to Camus’s The Fall and the fall off of light from left to right.

The light provides illumination of the figures but not the meaning. Its about relationships and roles. The painting is maybe inaccessible/unavailable in many ways.