John Coburn (1925 - 2006)
Sentinel, 1987
screenprint, 4 colours
edition: 51 of 100
90 x 60 cm
signed and inscribed in margin: 51/100 / Sentinel / Coburn '87

This John Coburn screenprint titled 'Sentinel' has a presence about it. Standing tall at 90 cm in height we are first struck by a dark organic form cropped at its base. This very Coburn like form is then back-dropped by a rich blue and a small golden disk to one side. Ultramarine blue was once the most prized pigment during the European Middle Ages. In modern twentieth century however this color reminds us of the cool International 'Yves' Klein Blue. Has Coburn presented us with a sky blue and golden sun disc? Or does this work demand more of a modernist reading and should be interpreted in more pure abstract terms?

A 'Sentinel' is simply a guard - a person (or thing) that watches or stands as if watching. Within Coburn's dark organic form is an even darker ellipse - shaped almost like an eye. Could this mysterious large form be the Sentinel, standing guard, protecting and watching over us?

I believe this work sits some where between abstract and figurative. Its colours are rich and carefully considered, it's forms and composition dynamically chosen. The title of 'Sentinel' however sets off the imagination and enables use to see it as a bodyguard.

view enlargement...