Gareth Bate

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Photo left: Agata and Lucas Piskunowicz, photo right: Gareth Bate, 2012.

 

Jewel Net of Indra

Artist Statement and Name List
Gareth Bate

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"You use a glass mirror to see your face, you use works of art to see your soul."  George Bernard Shaw.

Gareth Bate's Jewel Net of Indra installation is a cosmology representing the interconnectedness of humanity. It is based on a Mahayana Buddhist metaphor of an infinite net of jewels, each representing an individual. Every jewel is a reflection of all others. The installation attempts to represent the totality of lives lived. It is "everyone." This goal is inevitably impossible and forever incomplete. For this ongoing project, Gareth is interpreting the metaphor as a meditation on the possibilities of life, and our relationships to the individuals who shape history. It is about self-reflection. Who are these people? What lives did they live? What choices did they make? What aspects of them are within us?

Phase 1 of Jewel Net of Indra was a wall installation with over one thousand acrylic mirrored discs. Three hundred and twenty-five mirrors contained hand-painted miniature portraits of iconic individuals. The accumulation of discs fragmented the viewers as they moved through the empty room. The negative space created the net. Phase 2 involves the completion of at least 2000 portraits. Gareth has already begun work on the next 300.

Gareth chose to paint iconic individuals who all have well-known stories. This highly idiosyncratic mix of people were chosen to represent types of lives beyond their own particular ones. They are a cross-section of humanity throughout time. They have either had immense influence on human history, or led compelling or tragic lives. The more the portraits accumulate, the more insignificant each person becomes. Every person has been chosen for a reason. There are also deliberate omissions! Despite their relative fame or infamy, power or powerlessness, there is an essential equality to all of these people. Each represents just one brief human life.

There are an equal amount of men and women. Considerable effort was made to find people of a wide range of backgrounds. There are philosophers, artists, writers, musicians, singers, poets, politicians, kings and queens, tyrants, scientists, activists, journalists, doctors and nurses, soldiers, popes and cult leaders, celebrities, athletes, heroes, terrorists and freedom fighters, freaks, slaves, murderers and victims etc. Although a list of names is included, the faces are not identified. The piece depends on an individual’s engagement with history, and the preservation of knowledge. Otherwise these people simply become anonymous.

This piece would be impossible to create without the Internet. Interestingly, the metaphor of Indra’s Net has been applied to the interconnectedness of the web. Gareth has spent hundreds of hours researching online for portraits and stories. Especially useful, are websites devoted to extensive lists of famous people and events. The act of painting is essential to the piece. It involves spending time with that person in an intimate way. While painting, Gareth’s eyes would constantly shift between the person being depicted and his own reflection. He found that painting their portraits made these people feel less inaccessible. The process involved sitting at his studio desk painting from an image on a laptop, while simultaneously listening to lectures from the Learning Company. This remarkable series of university lectures called “The Great Courses” covers a wide range of topics. Thus, the process was truly about engaging with history, philosophy, science and art.

For Phase 2, rather than placing the portraits randomly, the focus will shift to making pan-historical relationships between the people. It establishes a sense of contrasting lives and freedom of choice throughout time. Why does someone in one context respond to a situation in the most evil way, while another rises to a heroic position? These relationships will form an elaborate puzzle for the viewer to decipher.

Through creating this piece, Gareth has realized how remarkable and different we really are. There are so many possibilities. Despite our natures and circumstances, we are still free to choose a life.

 

Special Thanks: Marina Guglielmi, Graham Jackson, Dawne Rudman, Carolyn Dinsmore, Stanzie Tooth, Deborah Wang and Britt Welter-Nolan.

Dates: August 2011 - Present.
Medium: Acrylic mirrors with acrylic painted portraits.
Exhibitions: Come Up To My Room, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Jan. 27 - 29, 2012
Press: Interviewed for the Toronto Standard and featured on the CBC, Radio Canada, Toronto Life, View on Canadian Art, Torontoist, Design Lines, Fashion Magazine, MOCO, and Display Design Magazine. View Press Section

 

680 Names

Phase 1 is the 325 portraits painted from Sept. 2011 to Jan. 2012 for Come Up  To My Room
* Indicates Phase 2 the 355 portraits painted after Jan. 2012 and not yet exhibited.

 

A
Abramović, Marina *
Adams, Maude *
Adamson, Joy *
Addams, Jane *
Agrippina the Elder *
Pharoah Akhenaten
Alcibiades *
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi
Ali, Muhammad
Alexander III of Macedon
Alighieri, Dante *
Allegri, Gregorio
Allen, Woody
Ambedkar, B. R. *
Anderson, Anna *
Princess Angeline *
Angelou, Maya
Annan, Kofi
Antinous
Anthony, Susan B.
Aquinas, Thomas
Arafat, Yasser *
Arendt, Hannah *
Aristotle
Armstrong, Neil
Ashoona, Pitseolak
Assange, Julian
Astor IV, John Jacob *
Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal *
Atwood, Margaret
Auma, Alice *
Emperor Augustus
Emperor Aurangzeb
Emperor Aurelius, Marcus
Austen, Jane
Avicenna *
Avril, Jane *
Ayed, Nahlah *
Ayyankali *

 

B
Baartman, Sarah
Bacon, Delia *
Bacon, Francis
Baez, Joan
Baker, Josephine
Baker, Ella *
Balanchine, George
Baldwin, James
Bales, Robert
Bandarnaike, Sirimavo *
Basquiat, Jean-Michel *
Bardot, Bridget *
Barton, Clara
Bathory, Elizabeth *
Baudelaire, Charles
Bausch, Pina *
Bavaud, Maurice *
Bedford, Terri-Jean *
Beckett, Samuel *
Beckett, Sister Wendy
Beethoven, Ludwig von
Benga, Ota *
Bernadette of Lourdes
Bernardo, Paul
Berners-Lee, Tim *
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo *
Bethune, Mary Jane *
Bethune, Norman *
Beuys, Joseph *
Bhutto, Benazir
Biko, Steve *
bin Laden, Osama
Björk *
Blackbeard *
Black Elk
Blixen, Karen *
Bly, Nellie *
Boleyn, Anne
Bolivar, Simon
Bonaparte, Napleon
Borden, Lizzie
Booth, John Wilkes *
Borenstein, Nathaniel *
Botticelli, Sandro
Bouazizi, Mohamed
Bourgeois, Louise *
Bouvier Beale, Edith
Boyd, Belle *
Boyle, Susan *
Bracciolini, Gian Francesco Poggio *
Brando, Marlon
Breivik, Anders Behring *
Bridget of Sweden *
Brooks, Romaine *
Brown, Christy *
Brown, John *
Brown, Molly (The Unsinkable Molly Brown) *
Brown Simpson, Nicole *
Bruegel the Elder, Pieter *
Bryant, Martin *
Buonarroti, Michelangelo
Lord Byron *

 

C
Emporer Caligula
Callas, Maria
Calley, William *
Calvin, John *
Caravaggio, Michelangelo
Carr, Emily
Carpenter, Karen *
Cassatt, Mary
Carter, Kevin *
Castro, Fidel
Catherine the Great
Chaplan, Charlie *
Chamberlain-Creighton, Lindy *
Chanel, Coco
Chang, Iris *
Chisholm, Shirley *
Christie, Agatha
Chomsky, Noam
Churchill, Winston
Chuncai, Huang
Cicero *
Cinqué, Joseph *
Empress Dowager Cixi
Pharaoh Cleopatra VII
Cline, Patsy *
Clinton, Hilary
Cobain, Kurt
Cohen, Leonard
Coleman, Vince *
Collins, Judy
Columbus, Christopher *
Confucius
Constantine the Great *
Copernicus, Nicolaus
Corday, Charlotte
Corrie, Rachel
Cousteau, Jacques *
Carson, Rachel
Cortez, Hernando
Cromwell, Oliver
Cruise, Tom *
Curie, Marie
Curie, Pierre *
Cunningham, Merce
Custer, George Armstrong

 

D
14th Dalai Lama, (Tenzin Gyatso)
Dallaire, Roméo *
D'Arcy McGee, Thomas *
Darwin, Charles
David, Jacques Louis
David-Néel, Alexandra
Davidson, Elaine *
da Vinci, Leonardo
Davis, Angela
Davis, Bette
Davis, Miles *
Day, Dorothy *
Dean, James
de Beauvoir, Simone
de las Casas, Bartolomé
Degeneres, Ellen
De La Tour, Maurice Quentin
de la Cruz, Juana Ines *
de Pareja, Juan *
de Sela, Lhasa *
d'Este, Isabella *
de Staël, Germaine (Madame de Staël) *
Dessalines, Jean-Jacques
Diana, Princess of Wales
Dickens, Charles
Dietrich, Marlene *
Dinoire, Isabelle *
Dion, Celine
Dohrn, Bernadette *
Douglas, Alfred (Bosie) *
Douglas, Tommy
Douglass, Frederick
Dreyfus, Alfred *
Du Bois, W. E. B. *
Dudley, Robert, 1st Earl of Leicester *
Dugas, Gaëtan *
Durer, Albrecht
Duvalier, François *
Dylan, Bob

 

E
Earhart, Amelia
Eckford, Elizabeth *
Edison, Thomas *
Eichmann, Adolf
Einstein, Albert
Ekberg, Anita
Eleanor of Aquitaine *
El Greco
Eliot, George
Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Elizbabeth II
Emin, Tracey *
England, Lynndie
Evora, Cesaria *

 

F
Fältskog, Agnetha *
Fanon, Frantz
Farrow, Mia *
Fattah, Israa Abdel *
Fawkes, Guy
Feodorovna, Alexandra (Alix of Hesse) *
Ferdinand, Franz *
Finzi, Gerald
Fischer, Bobby
Fitzgerald, Ella
FitzGibbon, James *
Ford, Henry *
Fossey, Dian *
Foucault, Michel
Fox, Terry
Franca, Celia
Francis of Assisi *
Frank, Anne
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, Rosalind *
Freeman, Elizabeth (Mum Bett)
Freire, Paulo *
French, Kristen
Freud, Sigmund
Fu, Du *
Fuller, Buckminster

G
Gagarin, Yuri *
Galdikas, Birutė *
Galilei, Galileo
Gandhi, Kasturba *
Gandhi, Indira
Gandhi, Mahatma
Garland, Judy
Garvey, Marcus *
Gauguin, Paul *
Gauss, Carl Friedrich
Gbowee, Leymah
Genet, Jean *
Genovese, Kitty *
Gentileschi, Artemisia
George, Chief Dan *
Geronimo
Ghose, Sri Aurobindo
Gibbon, Edward *
Ginsberg, Allen
Lady Godiva *
Godse, Nathuram *
von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang *
Goldman, Emma
Goldman, Ron
Goldstein, Baruch *
Goodall, Jane
Goya, Francisco
Graham, Martha
Greer, Germaine
Grese, Irma *
Grey Owl *
Guevara, Che
Gula, Sharbat (Afghan Girl) *
Gutenberg, Johannes

 

H
Hadid, Zaha
Emperor Hadrian
Hegarty, Antony *
Hagen, Nina *
Hamilton, Ann
Hannibal of Carthidge
Hatoum, Mona
Hari, Mata
Haring, Keith *
Pharoah Hatshepsut *
Hawking, Stephen
King Henry VIII
Hearst, Patty *
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich *
Hellman, Lillian *
Hepburn, Katherine
Hepburn, Audrey
Hemingway, Ernest *
Hendrix, Jimi *
Herodotus *
Hesse, Eva *
Hillary, Edmund *
Himmler, Heinrich *
Hindley, Myra
Hirst, Damien *
Hitchcock, Alfred
Hitler, Adolf
Höch, Hannah *
Ho Chi Minh
Hoffa, Jimmy *
Holbein, Hans
Homer
Homolka, Karla
Hortensia *
Houdini, Harry *
Howard, Katherine
Hubble, Edwin
Hugo, Victor *
Hume, David
Hus, Jan *
Hypatia

 

I
`l-Bahá, Abdu' *
Ibsen, Henrik
Iman *
Imhotep *
Iron, Marcus *
Irving, David *
Ivan the Terrible
Iwasaki, Mineko

 

J
Jacobs, Jane
Jackson, Michael
Jefferson, Thomas
Jeftichew, Fedor (Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy)
James, Etta *
Jameson, Jenna
Jobs, Steve *
Antipope John XXIII (Baldassarre Cossa) *
Pope John XXIII
Johnson, Ben *
Jolie, Angelina
Jones, Jim
Joplin, Janis
Jordan, Michael
Joseph, Hellen *
Josephus *
Joyce, James *
Jung, Carl G.

 

K
Kahlo, Frida
Kaʻiulani *
Kambanda, Jean *
Kampusch, Natascha
Kant, Immanuel
Kar-Wai, Wong *
Karman, Tawakkul
Kato, David *
Keller, Helen
Kelly, Grace *
Kelly, Ned
Kennedy, Jackie *
Kennedy, John F.
Kepler, Johannes
Khadr, Omar *
Khan, Genghis
Khan, Kublai
King Jr., Martin Luther
King, Rodney *
Kinsey, Alfred *
Klein, Naomi
Koch, Ilse *
Kollwitz, Kathe
Kony, Joseph *
Krasner, Lee *
Krishnamacharya, Sri Tirumalai
Queen Kristina of Sweden
Kruger, Paul *
Kunuk, Zacharias
Kurosawa, Akira *

 

L
Lakshmibai, Rani *
Lamarr, Hedy *
Lame Deer
Lang, k.d.
Lauper, Cyndi *
Lawrence, Thomas Edward (Lawrence
of Arabia)
Layton, Jack
Leavitt, Henrietta Swan *
Lee, Bruce
Lee, Gypsy Rose *
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Lennon, John
Lepine, Marc
Leonowens, Anna
Lepore, Amanda
Lévesque, René
Lévi-Strauss, Claude *
Lewis, Maude
Li, Gong *
Lincoln, Abraham
Lin, Maya
Litvinenko, Alexander *
López, Pedro Alonso
Lovelace, Ada *
Luther, Martin
Lutuli, Albert *
Luxemburg, Rosa
Lyngstad, Frida *

 

M
Maar, Dora *
Macdonald, John A.
Macphail, Agnes *
McCarthy, Joseph *
McDaniel, Hattie *
Machiavelli, Niccolo
Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie
Madonna
Mahaffy, Leslie
Mahal, Mumtaz *
Mahler Gropius Werfel, Alma *
Makeba, Miriam
Mandela, Nelson
Manet, Édouard *
Mangakahia, Meri Te Tai *
Manners, Jordan *
Manning, Bradley
Mansbridge, Peter *
Manson, Charles
Marcos, Imelda *
Subcomandante Marcos
Queen Marie-Antoinette
Marie De France
Mark Antony
Marley, Bob
Martin, Agnes
Queen Mary I *
Marx, Karl
Mary, Queen of Scots
Massoud, Ahmed Shah
McClintic, Terri-Lynne *
McLuhan, Marshall *
Medici, Catherine de
Meir, Golda
Meitner, Lise *
Menchú, Rigoberta
Mendel, Gregor
Mendelssohn, Fanny
Menderes, Adnan *
Merkel, Angela
Merrick, Joseph (The Elephant Man)
Messalina, Valeria *
Meurent, Victorine *
Michel, Anneliese
Milk, Harvey *
Mill, John Stuart
Millett, Kate
Mina
Mishima, Yukio *
Mitchell, Joni
Modotti, Tina *
Moeketsi, Stompie *
Mona Lisa
Monroe, Marilyn
Montgomery, Lucy Maud *
Moore, Henry *
More, Thomas
Morgentaler, Henry *
Morisot, Berthe
Morrison, Jim *
Morrison, Toni
Grandma Moses *
Mother Teresa
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Munro, Alice
Mxenge, Victoria *

 

N
Narayanan, K. R. *
Nefertiti
Nehru, Jawaharlal
Emperor Nero *
Neruda, Pablo
Nesbit, Evelyn *
Newton, Isaac
Nicholas II of Russia *
Nietzsche, Friedrich
Nightingale, Florence
Nijinsky, Vaslav
Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia *
Nixon, Richard
Nixon, Richard
Nobel, Alfred *
Noether, Emmy *
The Notorious B.I.G. *

O
Obama, Barack
Obama, Michelle *
O'Keeffe, Georgia *
Oppenheimer, J. Robert *
Ono, Yoko
Orlan *
Orwell, George *
Oswald, Lee Harvey *
Ötzi the Iceman *
Owens Thompson, Florence
Oxana, Malaya *

 

P
Page, Bettie *
Pankhurst, Emmeline
Paravicino, Fray Hortensio Felix *
Parker, Al *
Parker, Bonnie *
Parks, Rosa
Patterson, Banjo *
Pelé
Perez, Ruth Anna Maria
Pericles
Peron, Eva
Phuc, Phan Thi Kim (Napalm Girl) *
Piaf, Edith *
Picasso, Pablo
Pickton, Robert
Pilates, Joseph *
Plato
Pocahontas
Poe, Edgar Allan
Politkovskaya, Anna
Pol Pot *
Ponzi, Charles *
Previn, Soon-Yi *
Price, Leontyne *
Princip, Gavrilo *
Pythagoras of Samos *

 

Q
Quang Duc, Thich
Quintanilla-Pérez, Selena *

 

R
Rabe, John *
Rai, Aishwarya *
Rai, Lala Lajpat
Rainey, Ma *
Ramakrishna
Rand, Ayn
Rasputin, Grigorij *
Resnik, Judith *
Revere, Paul *
Rice, Condoleeza
Riefenstahl, Leni
Riel, Louis
Richard, Maurice *
Rimbaud, Arthur *
Rizal, José
Rodin, Auguste *
Rodriguez, Sue *
Ronaldo *
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Rosenberg, Ethel
Ross, Diana *
Rothko, Mark *
Rowling, J.K
Ruth, Babe

 

S
Sacajawea *
Sackville-West, Vita *
Sagat, François *
de Saint-George, Chevalier *
Sainte-Marie, Buffy
Salcedo, Doris *
Sandow, Eugen *
Sanger, Margaret *
Santos, Lúcia *
Sartre, Jean-Paul
Sasaki, Sadako *
Schiele, Egon *
Schindler, Oskar *
Schumann, Clara
Secord, Laura *
Selassie I, Haile *
Seurat, Georges *
Scargill, Arthur *
Schopenhauer, Arthur *
Shabazz, Betty *
Shakespeare, William
Shakur, Tupac *
Shaw, George Bernard
Shepard, Matthew
Sheppard, Kate
Sherman, Cindy *
Short, Elizabeth
Siberry, Jane *
Simpson, OJ *
Simone, Nina
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson
Sitting Bull
Skarbek, Krystyna *
Skinner, B. F. *
Slick, Grace *
Smith, Adam
Smith, Anna Nicole *
Smith, Bessie *
Smith, Edward *
Smith, Joseph *
Socrates *
Sontag, Susan *
Soyinka, Wole *
Spears, Britney *
Spielrein, Sabina *
Srinivasan, Rettamalai *
Stafford, Tori *
Stalin, Joseph
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Stein, Gertrude
Steinbeck, John *
Steinem, Gloria *
Stendhal *
Streep, Meryl
Streisand, Barbra *
Stuart, Charles Edward (Bonnie Prince Charlie) *
Sullivan, Annie *
Surayya, Kamala (Kamala Das) *
Suu Kyi, Aung San
Suzman, Helen *
Suzuki, David
Szabo, Violette *

 

T
Tagore, Rabindranath *
Taïa, Abdellah *
Tate, Sharon *
Taylor, Annie Edson *
Taylor, Elizabeth
Tecumseh
Teena, Brandon *
Temple, Shirley *
Tepes, Vlad (Vlad the Impaler)
Teresa of Ávila *
Tesla, Nikola *
Thatcher, Margaret
Thompson Jr., Hugh *
Thomson, Tom
Thoreau, Henry David
Tibbets, Paul
Till, Emmett
Titian
Toguri D'Aquino, Iva (Tokyo Rose)
Tolstoy, Leo
Torquemada, Tomas de
de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri *
Trotsky, Leon
Trudeau, Pierre
Truth, Sojourner
Tubman, Harriet
Tukukino *
Turing, Alan *
Turner, Joseph Mallord William
Turner, Tina *
Pharaoh Tutankhamun *
Tutu, Desmond *
Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
Tymoshenko, Yulia *
Tzara, Tristan *

 

U
Unaipon, David *

 

V
van Gogh, Vincent
van Thieu, Madame Nguyen
Vanoni, Ornella
van Rijn, Rembrandt
Varda, Agnès
Vasari, Giorgio
Queen Victoria
Verwoerd, Hendrik *
Vicious, Sid *
Vigée Le Brun, Louise Élisabeth
von Stauffenberg, Claus *
von Suttner, Bertha *

 

W
Walesa, Lech
Walker, Madame C J *
Wallace, Alfred Russel *
Wangari, Maathai
Warhol, Andy
Washington, George
Watson, Paul *
Watt-Cloutier, Sheila *
Weiwei, Ai
Weishaupt, Adam *
Wells-Barnett, Ida
Whitman, Walt
Wiesenthal, Simon *
Wiesner, Bertold *
Williams, Serena *
williams, Russell *
Williams, Venus *
Winehouse, Amy
Winfrey, Oprah
Woodward, Deanne *
Woodward, Roger *
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Woolf, Virginia
Wu, Chien-Shiung
Wuornos, Aileen *

 

X
X, Malcolm

 

Y
Yamaguchi, Tsutomu *

 

Z
Zapata, Emiliano
Zedong, Mao
Zia, Khaleda *
Žižek, Slavoj *

 

Unnamed
Buffalo Solider *
Hiroshima Survivor *
My Lai Massacre Woman 1 *
My Lai Massacre Woman 2 *
Rape of Nanking Excecuted Man *
The Girl with the Pearl Earring *