The time for angels is often the moment when order struggles
to emerge from the darkest chaos, be it political, physical or emotional.
With a Blakeian vision of the world Somerville creates angels that bridge
the chasm between internal and external existence.
“Encapsulating the fleeting aspect of creation in these modern
times, these angels are talismans, protectors and a source of inspiration
– reassuring images for our troubled world.”
Somerville’s original series of twelve angels emerged from sketches
made in 1996 and coincidental film footage from a video piece Visions
of the Anointed One that Somerville was making. This film presented,
almost by accident, a large stone with a natural circle on it resembling
a halo, highlighting the fragile and elusive nature of angels.
The large canvases that emerged are either angels with a particular
contemporary presence, such as Angel of Artistic Inspiration, Angel
of New York, and Urban Street Angel, or biblical scenes such as Jacob
wrestling with an Angel. These simultaneously herald both the upheaval
of transition and the hope of a better future.
“These Angels can be linked to a city, or represent human states
of mind, either way they exist in our time, inhabiting the same spaces
as ourselves, and they are to be glimpsed, like the stone, if only we
take the time to stop and notice.”
His smaller more personal canvases present angels in a more talismanic
role, as guardian angels, as angels for us individuals. These give us
a way of finding solace in the spiritual, allowing us a moment for pause
and reflection.
Somerville trained at Chelsea School of Art and has exhibited widely
in this country and in Europe. Alongside painting, Somerville also works
with film and sculpture, and has been the subject of a Video Portrait
by Karen Alexander- a visual profile of the artist and his work, shown
at the Tate Gallery. He lives and works in London and Somerset.
