Double Vision—Mapping Dürer in a Time of Crisis: Raymond Arnold and Ian Westacott

This exhibition presents a suite of etchings by Raymond Arnold and Ian Westacott produced in direct response to Albrecht Dürer’s master engraving, Melencolia I (1514), which the artists viewed together in early 2020 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Inspired by the historical work’s contemporary resonances, they began their collaboration during the COVID-19 lockdowns with Arnold situated in Tasmania and Westacott in Scotland.

The project involved each artist drawing all 18 objects in Dürer’s composition onto A4 copper plates which were then exchanged via post, travelling 15,000 miles to the other artist who in turn printed his own image on top of the first. It culminated in a joint interpretation of the complete Dürer image.

The collaborative work was acquired by the Colin Holden Charitable Trust in 2022 and is on long-term loan to Geelong Gallery.

A Geelong Gallery exhibition