Friends of ours asked us to approach Martin Varela to see if he would be interested in painting two pictures of St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland. When you think of it an interesting concept – a young Peruvian artist painting an Irish Saint using the symbols and colours of Peru!As you can see the results to this stage are amazing in style, detail and colour especially when you realise that both are little more than 40 centimeters square!
Small details such as the trebol or shamrock, the traditional potato digger being depicted as the bishop’s crozier and Martin’s signature piece in the pica flores or humming bird. He also uses the green of Ireland.
One St. Patrick is older than the other as shown by the different shade of hair.
The style of the frame is based on the Ayacuchan retablo. The retablo is a sophisticated Andean folk art in the form of portable boxes which depict religious, historical, or everyday events that are important to the Indigenous people of the highlands of Peru, especially around Ayacucho.
Both are fascinating works in that they successfully combine the two vastly different cultures of Peru and Ireland.
This second work is not yet complete – no humming bird or shamrock in St. Patrick’s hand!Remember you can 'click' on the actual picture to see an enlargement.
