Transcript
Maxwell Bates
I saw the scarecrows as being a sort of symbol of the condition of man. That
was the idea of the scarecrow, as a kind of despised object - a bunch of straw
with a stick under it or something.
Terry Guernsey (TG)
When did you start doing those?
MB
Oh, in about 1947 or so, 1948. And then gradually after doing that for some
years it became the crucifixion because of the cross arm part of the scarecrow,
it began to be crucifixion. So they became a little more serious in a sense
as crucifixions, not as scarecrows. I even did a large painting called "Midnight
Crucifixion" which is in Peachland, in the gallery there.
(NOTE: "Midnight Crucifixion" is in the collection of the Art Gallery
of Windsor)
TG
What's your feeling about the crucifixion?
MB
Oh well I'm quite interested in that one because I made it at the lowest time
of the year which I thought was winter and also made it early in the morning,
say about two in the morning, which I thought was about the lowest time. That
was the idea of it. No, midnight, about twelve, oh well. "Midnight Crucifixion"
with snow everywhere.
Todd Greenaway (Todd)
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MB
Not exactly in religious terms, no. No, more as the condition of man. Well you
see, also while all this was going on, I was doing puppets and marionettes because
I felt that mankind was worked as a puppet and a marionette a lot, too, by powerful
forces he couldn't control. And people were made to do things as if they were
on the end of a string or something. So I had that idea for a time.
Todd
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MB
It's not exactly religious, it's a sort of a - I suppose you could call it a
sort of a social conciousness of some kind. More political than religious.
Todd
So there is a certain pessimism?
MB
Yes, I felt that man was getting knocked about too much. And it may have started
from the end of the war when I saw these concentration camp people in Germany
being killed off.
- Vancouver, 1972