The dirge is a mournful song, lamenting over the dead. In Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), Christopher Marlowe describes a procession of friars, that damn the spirit that had disrupted their meal instead of uttering words of devotion. This act is interpreted by Matthew Shirfield, in his first solo exhibition, The Dirge, currently showcased at Splendid, Strait Street, Valletta. Shirfield based his exhibition on the tale of Dr Faustus deconstructing and reinterpreting several themes from the Faustian myth to not only parallel but also comment on contemporary culture. The story of this fallen academic is relevant today because it engages with the consequences of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for success. In today's contemporary culture several people are willing to go to great lengths to achieve power forgetting the age-old proverb that "pride goes before a fall".
The work entitled The Haunting Dirge (2024) piques curiosity because it engages with the structure of the traditional Maltese Good Friday procession where solemnly dressed figures carry the Holy Crucifix. The monochrome charcoal work by Shirfield can be juxtaposed with the composition of the Good Friday Procession (1927) portrayed by Edward Caruana Dingli. Although similar in its composition, Shirfield's work is devoid of colour which further embeds the work in the misty darkness present in the Faustian ethos. The erased smudges in charcoal embody the swaying movement of the devilish friars who lament the death of the ghostly silhouetted saviour above. While Caruana Dingli's colourful procession laments the death of Christ in hope for resurrection to triumph over death, this same hope is drained in Shirfield's work, perhaps suggesting the death of faith in contemporary culture.
The elongated and fluid ghostly facial expressions of the unholy friars recalls the work by Edvard Munch The Scream (1893), Francis Bacon Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953) and the work of Shirfield's former tutor, Raymond Pitrè, The Screaming Man (1979), among others. Since they are carrying the Holy Crucifix, their curses may be addressed to God himself where the unholy souls could represent the lost souls of humanity. It is truly unbelievable the fact that hatred, pain and sufferance still reoccur which makes one think how history repeats itself, where we are stuck in an opiate induced loop full of Walpurgis distractions as represented in the Faustian tale.
The procession series in The Dirge exhibition features different statues including the Fallen Christ, the Annunciation and the Resurrected Christ. The Resurrected Christ is of special significance since Faust's major motivation is his unwillingness to accept his own mortality; a sentiment present in the Christian ethos where humanity celebrates the Resurrection of Christ in the hope of salvation. The haunting banshees depicted in charcoal by Shirfield are almost formed of fog and ashes. The ghostly figures carrying the sculptures are reminiscent of the Maltese Good Friday folkloristic tradition of the repentant figures walking barefoot with chains around their ankles as a form of sacrifice. These figures are anonymous to the general public due to their traditional hooded attire. In Shirfield's procession series, the emotional and haunting procession of the enigmatic figures is captured through black smoke linking each figure together as one mass, emerging and merging with the ancestral bones at their feet.
Shirfield explored different variations of Faust including the writings of Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann and Klaus Mann. According to Shirfield, "Faustus is an icon for today's society. Faustus is not just a character; he is a mythical character and all myths carry the truth".
Make sure to visit Shirfield's exhibition The Dirge, curated by Roderick Camilleri, which is currently being held at Splendid in Valletta until 29 November.