Kiss of Judas, Giotta Interview

Q1. Why is it that you chose to humanize religious figures in this art work? In the, Kiss of Judas, i made the figures to look human. I was very intrigued with the idea of humanisation of religious figures, that in contrary to other artists around who are more concerned with making the figures have elegance and grace, i wanted to portray my figures as beings with flesh and blood. This can be illustrated through the fact that the figures are weighty, rounded three-dimensional and down to earth. However, the main thing I did that I think is most important is the human emotion that can be depicted from this particular piece. Unlike the Italo-Byzantine style which made religious figures look divine with no expression on their faces, I used emotion to not only make the figures look human but also for the narrative of the paintings. My decision in the humanisation of religious figures in Kiss of Judas was to also allow the viewers to sympathise with figures and to gain a better understanding of this particular story just by looking at this fresco.

Q2. What do you think were some advantages and disadvantages of fresco painting? With fresco painting, i had to work rapidly before the plaster could dry. A disadvantage would have to be that making corrections were almost impossible to do so I needed a sure hand and purpose before beginning. Overall though, I think that fresco is a good way of painting pictures on wall as these paintings can last for hundreds of years.

Q3. How do you feel the use of light and shade has impacted your artwork and the viewers? While working on the Kiss of Judas fresco, i wanted to manipulate the effects of light and shade to communicate a sense of reality to the viewers. I used light and shade both to demonstrate the variety of settings and to give an impression of life to the figures. The use of light and shade draws attention to the realness of the human form by emphasising curves, muscles, bulk and other body lines. The impact i was after for both this fresco and the viewers was to hopefully portray a sense of realism by using the effects of light and shade in a certain way.