Andrew Potter Envy

This painting is one of a series based on the ‘seven deadly sins’ but with a contemporary slant, mixing in some elements of the old masters and the technique of Australian artist Max Meldrum.

For this particular painting, my intention was to depict an image that embodied the state of envy. But somehow once it was completed the replica of Caravaggio’s Medusa (1598) felt somewhat organic, almost like a living being. When I look at it now, the Medusa painting appears to have come alive and be speaking for the artist. I believe that art should be able to speak for itself and shouldn’t be defined by who created it. Most of the time I feel like I’m just a medium and I let the picture come together and develop its own story as it has in this instance.

Andrew Potter, 2012