His Painted Gaze

He sees something of himself in Durer.

the contemporary gaze,
the mediterranean obsession.
the corona,...

the black magi with nordic features
and a gothic temperament.

Adam and Eve after Apollo of the Belevedere,
and the Medici Venus.

His masterpiece is just a copy.

His genius lies not in the Baroque,
not the Caravagesque of sumptuous shades of shadow.

his is for the printing press,
the new medium, the copy.

The device, the gesture, the product and the reproduction are the same.

Hard lines,
endless permutations of detail,
an obsession with perfection
never to be attained
and a microscopic vision
at once horrible and resplendent.

Endlessly copying,
he is a witness to madness
and slaughter.

A humanist,
and a man of refined indifference,
he looks back at you
Open,
Poised,
Modern.

In this image,
he sees a Master.

In his painted gaze,
he sees himself.