Adam McLean's emblematic and alchemical paintings
McLean as an artist is not one given up to exploring in a free or indulgent way his own ideas. He works essentially to restore and invigorate traditional emblematic and alchemical imagery. McLean sees his task as an artist is to make modern facsimiles, using the medium of oil paint, of important emblematic and alchemical images from old manuscripts, paintings and books, often restoring the images by removing the flaws that time has imposed onto these old artworks.
These follow the originals very closely and McLean always strives to create a painting that translates the original manuscript painting into the medium of oils. Most of these involve extremely detailed work. These are not paintings one has to stand well back from and squint to see what they represent, but rather one can stand right up close to appreciate the fine details. Many of these works cannot be merely copied as the originals in the manuscripts have either become damaged, the colours changed through time, or the original drawing having some inadequacies, therefore some works need to be reborn or restored from the original image. He has an especial interest in such manuscripts and has spent much time finding these rare items in libraries and special collections. Many of these marvellous images are totally unknown to most art historians. In 2009 he decided to make restored copies of some wonderful paintings from the 15th, 16th and 17th century.    
Later in 2009 he began work on his Temptation of St Anthony series, in which he will make copies of some key works in this genre. This project will take about two years to complete.  
See my new Art Weblog Paintings for sale at present Adam McLean is one of the few recognised experts on hermetic and alchemical symbolism. Since 1978 he has published over 60 books on hermeticism, alchemy and related matters, edited the long running Hermetic Journal in the 1980's, and now organises the largest and most comprehensive web site on alchemy. He also offers study courses on the interpretation of alchemical symbolism. He also has one of the largest collections of modern tarot decks and is very interested in the artwork of modern tarot. He is well known for his writings but perhaps not yet so recognised for his paintings. |