I absolutely revere Ramon Maiden's work, an artist from Barcelona; the more I see the more connections I find with my own art and interests.
I came across his work at a tattoo parlour in East London, his religious figures. Then I saw his references to anatomy, and his work on wooden hands.
Tattoos, anatomy and religion, what a great mix. I like his emphasis on the wounds of martyrs, and the treatment he gives to skin, engraving representation on top of representation, creating layers of iconography on top of the body. There is the 'real' body, the image of the body, and Ramon Maiden embellishing a further layer of meaning. The reference to anatomy is very effective as the skin serves as a great metaphor for the process of representation, as if this was the 'image' we present of our true selves (our insides). A socially acceptable, gendered, hermetic, leather vessel that contains and conceals what we 'really' are: a mess of fat, blood and guts.
