|
'A
study of Philip Barker's paintings prompts one to define the relationship
of art and archaeology. Art is part of the material culture that archaeologists
study, such as cave paintings and frescoes; when this study gets out
of hand, we call it art-history.
But
as archaeologists we also see a lot of patterns, in artefacts, settlements,
graves and especially air-photographs. All of us look at patterns to
see what we can learn from them; but we also take an innocent delight
in them. What is more satisfying to our aesthetic senses than seeing
a fine aerial photograph of a palimpsest of earthworks, soil-marks and
buried features. But few of us have the artist's skills in conveying
some idea of our feelings in a drawing or a painting.
Philip Barker has the unique gift of being not only a very objective
archaeologist but also a lifelong artist, able to express his feelings
about pattern in two and three dimensions; his understanding of archaeology
informs his expression of them.
Many of us would go further and affirm that his archaeological drawings
of myriads of stones are themselves art, but that is another story.
' 
|
)
)
)