LAS MENINAS          

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'Enough is Definitely Enough' by Andrew Bracey is a 2021 publication illustrating three touring exhibitions of 62 artists responses to the famous Velazquez painting, Las Meninas. 

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I was one of the invited artists, submitting the painting 'Las Meninas' - a contemporary reflection on the painting, its subject and meanings

"The longer Pip Dickens studies Las Meninas “the less I see a painting of privilege and care, rather, a holding cell populated with amusements and distractions.” We can see this as another instance of how the process of looking attentively at an artwork by an artist can bring out new avenues for understanding an artwork, leading to the creation of a new one. The result of looking attentively led Dickens to focus on “the guarding of the precious political chattel, Margarita Teresa” and to ask whether the servants are “benevolent guards or wardens – caring protectors but charged with her restriction?” Dickens transformed the human ‘meninas’ into Doberman Pinschers, “whose qualities are intelligence, fearlessness, loyalty, obedience and above all the most vigilant guard dog.”

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Book Description: Painted in 1656 by Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas is one of the most revered and innovative artworks in history. Widely discussed, debated and critiqued, it has inspired artists, writers and filmmakers for centuries.

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Just when you thought there was nothing more left to say about the painting, artist, curator and lecturer Andrew Bracey asked sixty-two contemporary artists to interpret the artwork. Well, almost. The painting itself never leaves the world-famous Museo del Prado in Madrid, so he distributed a postcard of Las Meninas to respond to in place of Velázquez’s original.

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Bracey’s perceptive and engaging writing brings Las Meninas to life in new ways through the interpretation of these contemporary artworks, which range from the witty and the cosmic through to the conceptual and intuitive.

Exploring themes including ‘close looking’, time, mirroring, the meta and the complex, and associative thinking, this book demonstrates how an artist’s interpretation of an artwork can offer a host of new perspectives.

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Enough Is Definitely Enough introduces the relative art novice to the links between contemporary art practice and art history, while allowing the expert to find alternative ways of looking at one of the world’s greatest paintings.

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News item here: https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/news/article/painting-lecturers-featured-in-new-book-on-responses-to-the-great-spanish-master-velazquez