Above: enter the Art of Darkness, find out more below...
As I write, I am receiving wonderful messages by phone, on Twitter, Facebook and by email about my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Last week I signed over 300 copies of the book for pledgers; this week, the GPO has done its duty and all the books have been delivered. Crowdfunding this book has created something which I wouldn't otherwise have known - the passion and support of you all. It has been a wonderful experience.
This is a journey, however, which cannot end. As Picasso said, a painting which is finished is dead; so my work must not cease; to do so kills the soul. So, enthralled by the poetry - and the hidden politics - of the Alliterative Revival of the fourteenth century, I've started work (as you know) on King Arthur's Death, the Alliterative Morte Arthure of c.1400. It speaks to me and I hope, through my work, it will speak anew to you.
A confession from me to you...
But there's something else. When I began working on Arthur, I thought I would make my task a little easier by hand drawing the illustrations.I now realise that this is a mistake - a mistake I will confess to. I will own up to a moment of indolence; and indolence is never rewarded by anything other than complacency. Indolence is the enemy of ardour. Indolence begets dross like a weeping pustule. This is unacceptable. A man of the north is built to work.
This is not to say drawing is easy. Drawing is not easy; indeed, I will still illustrate the supportive parts of my translation in great detail with my pen-and-ink work because I think it will help to support my historical analysis of the poem.
But I think the poem itself demands more. The response to my linocut artwork in Gawain has been so phenomenal that I feel I must press on and perfect it more so. Yet, as every artist knows, you cannot simply make something happen. In the beginning, I simply couldn't find the spark to go through the pain of cutting what might be 30 linocuts for a new book.
Enter the Art of Darkness...
Pain, loneliness and graft alone can create beauty; art must never come from the cynical mind, to do so will only reflect a depravity of emotion. But where to find the spark?
Two things lit my mind: the sheer dark heart and astonishing poetry of King Arthur's Death and then - critically - the inspiration of how to approach the prints. On a chance trip to Swansea with my wife, I came across an exhibition of the work of Kathe Kollwitz. Now I knew what to do. This is the art of darkness! This is the inspriation! Here is how King Arthur's Death is to be done!
I will not copy Kollwitz; to do so is offensive. But I will draw from her work the suffering and anguish which so stretches through this poem like a sinew - and I will apply it to my own style. We will visit the battlefield together; we will fight King Arthur's demons; we will suffer his loss; we will be haunted by the treachery that clasps his loyal heart.
We will go on this journey together. Will you "go again" and help me bring new life, new emotion, new passion to the stunning 4500 line poem which is King Arthur's Death? Will you be the driving force behind the hard graft and pain of cutting 32 linocut plates that will illustrate my work?
Let us go forward together - I can only do it with your help. And, as a supporter of Gawain, if you apply the promotion code Gawain10 to your pledge (any pledge up to £100) you can save 10%.
Friends, let us bring alive again the flames which lit the fourteenth century! And then, what larks!
Michael Smith
Translator, Printmaker, and champion of the Alliterative Revival.