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Harlequin, 2024

Appliqué, free machine embroidery and hand knit.

This piece is inspired by an Instagrammed photograph of celebrity Harry Styles at an awards ceremony wearing a very specific outfit.  Several artists have chosen to paint the Harlequin as a subject but it is Picasso’s paintings which make the strongest impression on Darren.  Picasso represents the Harlequin over a number of years spanning several different periods in his work.  Darren particularly likes the works from the Rose or Saltimbanque Period because they have a beautiful warmth, tenderness and fragility and for their delicate painterly quality.  The work which inspired this piece was a little earlier, the Seated Harlequin 1901, an early Blue period painting in which Picasso suggests the influence of Van Gogh and Gauguin on his own work.  Darren enjoys the simplified use of line and the flattened pattern in the painting.

Why was Picasso so intrigued by the character of the Harlequin?  Was it the Harlequin’s complex character or was he identifying with him as the conquering lover, stealing the love of Columbine from Pierrot with his wit and guile?

Darren loves Picasso as a painter and sculptor particularly for his great exploration of media.  He especially likes his ceramics in which he playfully transformed traditional domestic ware into works of art of such spontaneity.

Darren has taken the domestic crafts of knitting and embroidery and created art inspired by contemporary culture and the challenging of traditional gendering in fashion. 

38 x 36cm

Currently in exhibition, available for collection after the 20th September 2026.

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Harlequin, 2024

Appliqué, brodwaith peiriant rhydd a gweu â llaw

Ysbrydolwyd y darn hwn gan ffotograff Instagram o’r gŵr enwog Harry Styles yn gwisgo gwisg benodol iawn mewn seremoni wobrwyo. Mae sawl artist wedi dewis paentio’r Harlecwin fel testun ond paentiadau Picasso sy’n creu’r argraff fwyaf ar Darren. Mae Picasso’n cynrychioli’r Harlecwin yn ei waith dros nifer o flynyddoedd, yn rhychwantu sawl cyfnod gwahanol. Mae Darren yn arbennig o hoff o weithiau o gyfnodau’r Rhosliw neu’r Saltimbanque gan fod ganddyn nhw gynhesrwydd hyfryd, tynerwch a breuder ac am eu hansawdd arluniol gynnil. Roedd y gwaith a ysbrydolodd y darn hwn yn dod o gyfnod ychydig yn gynt, yr Arlequin assis (Harlecwin ar ei eistedd)1901, paentiad cynnar o’r cyfnod Glas lle mae Picasso’n awgrymu dylanwad Van Gogh a Gauguin ar ei waith. Mae Darren yn mwynhau’r defnydd wedi’i symleiddio o linell a’r patrwm gwastad yn y paentiad.

Pam oedd gan Picasso gymaint o ddiddordeb yng nghymeriad Harlecwin? Ai oherwydd cymeriad cymhleth Harlecwin neu a oedd yn uniaethu ag ef fel y carwr buddugol, yn dwyn serch Colombina o Pierrot gyda’i ffraethineb a’i ddichell?

Mae Darren yn hoff iawn o Picasso fel paentiwr a cherflunydd yn enwedig am ei archwiliad mawr o gyfrwng. Mae’n hoffi ei waith cerameg yn arbennig lle mae wedi trawsffurfio’n chwareus llestri domestig traddodiadol yn weithiau celf o’r fath natur ddigymell.

Mae Darren wedi cymryd crefftau domestig gweu a brodwaith a chreu celf wedi’i hysbrydoli gan ddiwylliant cyfoes a’r her o wahaniaethu traddodiadol ar sail rhywedd mewn ffasiwn.

38 x 36cm

Arddangosir ar hyn o bryd; ar gael i'w casglu ar ôl yr 20fed o Fedi 2026.

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