Art, Religion and Politics
Newspapers send reporters to cover an art exhibition and the result is reportage that builds up very high expectations: "A wonderful new exhibition showing the work of an English artist and his Irish protégé proves that art is greater than politics. Art as peacemaker, as bridge builder. A new religion that is neither Catholic nor Protestant. A spiritual experience without the priest.” The context of these metaphors situating art as a religious experience is the troubles of Ireland. The British and the Irish working together in any capacity almost always fosters hope of collaboration and reconciliation. Tossing art into the volatile mix of politics and religion can become either gasoline or water and often manages to wind up being both. Because art is not inherently bridge-building peacemaker.
Mr. Lloyd’s Lifestyle
The British man has a simple description for the kind of life he leads: “I like being on the edge…Away from London.” The metaphor of living on the edge is an abstraction which can mean many different things to many different people. Lloyd voices this philosophy of life in reference to a query about what brought him to the Irish island. He replies that it was the cliffs and while it is true that his homeland certainly has cliffs as well, they are not as rugged and wild. So, for Mr. Lloyd, “the edge” implies untamed natural state of existence.
Expertise
Advice from a native is offered unsolicited to the tourist artist, raising the question of which is the expert on the matter. The artist knows what he is painting, but the native knows what is being painted. “Mr Lloyd, you’re not understanding the light at all, you have it sitting on the top of the sea, but it doesn’t do that, does it? No, it buries underneath, diving between the waves as a bird might, lighting the water from below as well as above.” The metaphor explaining how the light works in this particular geographical setting is tremendously useful as light is crucial in a seascape. The advice, if taken, would significantly alter the viewing experience. But the artist is a Brit and the natives have been conditioned on when to speak their thoughts out loud. For now, at least, this advice remains unspoken and unused, silent and pointless.
The Linguist
In addition to the British artist, there is an Irish linguist in the story. The narrative is partly the book he is writing about the history of the Irish language, and it is heavily metaphorical: “The Irish language is dying, but is not yet dead… The death has been a slow one, taking place over centuries as speakers abandon the Irish language for English.” As the writing of his book continues forward, the Irish language itself because a metaphor for everything about the Irish culture based on the premise that a shared language is the foundation of any culture.
Allusion
When the artist makes an offhand comment about one of his paintings perhaps having an economic impact upon Ireland, another character replies with what may seem a cryptic comment to some readers: “The Tahiti of the northern hemisphere?” There is nothing cryptical about it. The comment is an allusion neo-Impressionist artist Paul Gaugin who famously—or infamously, perhaps—abandoned his family to pursue his creative vision in the Tahitian islands. In the process of becoming famous for his art paint there, Tahiti became a metaphor with multiple meanings.
