Danse Macabre.

A number of gallery directors who show my work have advised me that this is not a good time to publish this particular edition. However, for me the dance of death seems to sum up our myriad reactions the Covid-19 pandemic. The subject matter of the association of death with the dance has provided the inspiration for many great works, some of them portrayed on this mono-print. One of the more famous examples is ‘Danse Macabre’ by Saint-Saëns, which was inspired by the song of the same name by the poet Henri Cazelis.  I have adapted the 1997 Richard Stokes translation of this song and used it as the central element for the diamond dust text.  However, I felt Stokes’ use of the onomatopoeia ‘Tap-Tap-Tap’ bore little resemblance to the Zig-Zig-Zig of the original French. Indeed, it seemed more reminiscent of Dud and Pete’s “tap-tap-tap on the bloody window” , than a reflection of the sound of the bow scraping across the strings of the Devil’s Violin.