Adam and Eve are walking in the garden one day and hear the sound of God, they hid amongst the trees. God calls ‘where are you?’ Adam answers ‘I heard you in the garden and was afraid because I was naked so I hid.’ God said ‘How did you know you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said ‘Eve gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ God said to Eve ‘What is this you have done?’ Eve said ‘The serpent deceived me and I ate it’.
(2022)

• Richard LEWER

Through twelve paintings, Richard Lewer examines the creation story of Adam and Eve, central to Abrahamic religions. Particular to Christianity is how this story of the original human couple also represents the concept of ‘original sin’ and ‘the fall of man’. The story has served as a source of inspiration and commentary by artists throughout the history of Western art.

Lewer’s series sits in association with the Carved retable of the Passion of Christ, also known as the Antwerp altarpiece (c. 1511–20) – created as a didactic edifice for the contemplation by the faithful. The association of this significant historical work with Lewer’s series is indicative of how people have always and continue to look to biblical stories for self-examination and understanding of their contemporary world.

Each painting in Lewer’s series represents a chapter or section of the Adam and Eve myth, where figures and elements, such as the serpent and animals in the Garden of Eden seem to emerge from Lewer’s staining of the unprimed canvas. The stain – also a metaphor for evolution – takes its own shape, depending on the application of paint and its dilution. The paintings include allusions to the current climate crisis and global conflicts among others, built up through further staining and layers of paint.