The Red Park

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

20718

Title

The Red Park

Description

The painting depicts an area of common recreational area known as the 'Meadows', near the University. The painting has a macabre feel with the use of dark reds and black. An area of Edinburgh that usually is an abundant of green grass has been painted with an apocalyptic tone. To the left of the work is a ghostly waiter carrying a silver tray. A man lies prostrate on the floor in striped pyjamas. In the centre of a painting a woman sits on a green bench. The figures haunt the 'Meadows' as members from Kondracki's and the viewers past.

Artist / maker

Kondracki, Henry

Size

218.5 x 198.5cm

Type

Oil painting

Location

City Art Centre

Accession number

CAC1997/2

Drawing on a wealth of sources, including his own family history and immediate surroundings, Kondracki's work is marked by naïve painterliness.
This painting depicts an area of common recreational ground known as the 'Meadows', near the University of Edinburgh. In the past this part of the city was used as a graveyard, a fact which has been used to add a macabre undertone to the painting.
The ghostly waiter could be Kondrachi's friend Naseem, who featured in another painting, entitled 'Naseem the Temporary Waiter' (1998). The green bench in the centre of the work could also be the bench for the work entitled 'The Park Bench' (1998) which Kondracki felt was haunted by his mother's ghost. Henry Kondracki lives and works in Edinburgh. The 'Meadows' is a recurring theme in his painting, for it is just minute from where he lives with his family.

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Places > Edinburgh areas > Marchmont

Places > Edinburgh areas > Tollcross