Just as musicians test their style by doing cover versions of other songwriters’ songs, very occasionally Chris Gollon liked to paint versions of another painter’s work, which he would acknowledge in the title. Ernst’s work seems to have a sense of foreboding, which critics have associated with the rise of Hitler the same year; although, civilisation abandoned to the forces of nature is a common theme in earlier German painting.
In Gollon’s work there is the sense of there being a human drama unfolding beyond the canvas, underlined by the mysterious arrow, the beginning of which is out of view. The arrow is also painted on the picture surface, which disrupts perspective and seems to pull the city and moon closer. Is it blood oozing from the city’s layers and reflecting in the dark water?