The Last Supper

This is for a theme show at Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque. The theme is The Last Supper & the title for this is "The Last Supper for the Society of Mystics & Magicians" This is the 1st collage/assemblage style piece I've ever brought them. For the past 15 or so years, it's always been my mixed-media boxes that I've shown. (If you're curious about my boxes, you can check them out at my website, MadRatStudio. I don't have every box I've ever made there, just the ones I had on hand when I made the website. You can also see some of them by reading my older posts.)

So, I'm excited & a little anxious about it's reception, but I have to admit, I really like the way this has come out. I've been working on it just about all month, though the last 3 weeks have been the most intense, working on it between trying to run my business, having to stop to eat, sleep, mow the grass, appointments, etc. You know, all those pesky things that get in the way of doing what you really wanna be doing.

I had a little bit of a scare the night before I had to take it to the gallery. After I rubbed a clear coat on the frame, it wasn't drying as I expected & it was a little tacky to the touch. So after letting it sit for about 4 hours I went over the sides with extremely fine wet sandpaper then rubbed it well with a soft t-shirt. I think that did the trick. Whew, figure I'd do something dumb like that at the last minute.

This is a little bit of a side view which shows the reflections on the plexi behind the men. The finished piece has glass in front of the curtains but I photographed this without it so I didn't have to deal with the reflections. The overall size is approx 15 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 3 1/4" deep.

This is truly a mixed-media project, the image of the windows in the back is from an Annunciation painting that I altered on my computer, I also printed the diagrams on transparency film that are floating behind the men. The men & fish (on the plates) are printed images that I glued to wood than cut out on my scroll saw. I then painted the edges so they'd look more 3-d. I built the table from wood scraps. The curtains are painted masonite & on the floor I used one of my stamps for the pattern. The table cloth is very thin fabric that I painted several coats of gesso & modeling paste on so it would hold the shape, then did some transfers on it to mirror the ones behind the men.

The only "found" items I used are the scalloped pieces of rusty metal that was just what I needed to give the tops of the curtains a finished look, I had just enough. The other bit is hard to see but I cut a piece of rusty metal, stamped it with some esoteric text, embossed it with gold than aged it & attached it to the span between the curtains. To finish it off, the front of the frame was covered with a printed image of metal work scallops, which I cut out with my scroll saw & painted over the rest.