frieda hughes - alternative values

All prices include UK VAT Belgravia Gallery 23 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2QN

T: 020 7495 1010 F: 020 7629 1247 [email protected] www.belgraviagallery.com

FRIEDA HUGHES

ALTERNATIVE VALUES

POEMS & PAINTINGS

Frieda Hughes, Green Triangle, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm/20 x 16 in, £5,000

http://www.belgraviagallery.com



ALTERNATIVE VALUES is a collection of poems in eight sections, each headed by a

haiku, addressing love, life, death, and more.

The paintings are Frieda Hughes’s visual response to the emotional elements in her poems.

The accompanying book is about aspects of life – Frieda’s life – and her observations of it.

Poems and Images © Frieda Hughes




LOVE, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

LOVE.

Love is not always about people

Nor do people always find love.




WEDDING POEM FOR YOU.

This poem

Contains the first time I ever saw you

Standing, smiling, sitting, or just talking,

Looking into the eyes of other people as you spoke,

Or staring into the distance

As if you were searching for someone……

WEDDING POEM FOR YOU, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500




ONE LAST KISS, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

LOVE POEM FOR A MOTORBIKE, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

ONE LAST KISS.

You’d do anything for one last kiss, you say,

But why?

You had it, only

You didn’t know then, that it was not

To be followed by others………

LOVE POEM FOR A MOTORBIKE

I’d always hoped

I’d overcome the craving and forget

About two wheels and an engine.

During years in offices wearing pencil

skirts too tight

To allow the necessary over-seat leg-swing

I’d watch Moto Guzzis and Nortons go by,

Straighten the crease in my stockings

And step in heels from a car……..




SIMPLE ARITHMETIC, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

ANOTHER WEDDING POEM FOR YOU, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

SIMPLE ARITHMETIC.

The basics should add up;

Food, water, clothing and shelter equal life.

Cash will increase the idea of success,

As will anything flash by way of car or a

house,

And a preternaturally youthful husband or

wife…

ANOTHER WEDDING POEM.

I’ve sat and worked at these words

Until they were tortured into this compla-

cency;

They have littered the desk like tatty knot-

ted threads

Snipped from the back of this poem

As if it were a piece of embroidery…….




DISCIPLE, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40 CM/20 X 16 IN, £5,000

LIFE, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

DISCIPLE.

She has chosen her God.

The practice of him is delivered

By the man whose mouth

Is the instrument

Of her instruction………

LIFE.

Life is the forging of the spirit

In the fire of experience….




THE ROLLING CAR.

The crimson Morris Traveller loses footage

At the hilltop, my younger brother

Sticking like an obstinate dough-ball

To the back seat

On which we will die……….

THE ROLLING CAR, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500




CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

ALTERNATIVE VALUES, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £5,000

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.

On 26th September 2009 Allen Jones exhib-

ited a collection of female figures at Lud-

low Castle in Shropshire.

Women have been here before –

Kept within these walls of stone

Where now the doors are gone.

Objectified by your intent I stand –

A perfect monument……….

ALTERNATIVE VALUES.

The owl does not always look ahead

With eyes on the horizontal……..




EMBRYO, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,800

FOR EVADNE, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500, SOLD

EMBRYO.

It has no mind to define it.

It’s a little coded message

Loaded with a long list

Of things to do later…….

FOR EVADNE.

You’re fifty now, and fifty winning

smiles

Will greet your Saturday surprise.

I have agonised over each untravelled

mile

We cannot make to see you………….




AFTER THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL, OIL ON CANVAS, 61 X 51 CM/24 X 20 IN, £4,800

THE LAST SUPPER, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

AFTER THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL.

I arrive in the green room dressed in motorbike

black

To see my father gazing into my mother’s eyes

From every coffee table………

THE LAST SUPPER.

My father is made poet laureate

And the boyfriend is eating lobster thermidor

At the supper to celebrate……..




DEATH.

Three minutes without air,

Three days without water,

Three weeks without food.

DEATH, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500




FOR THE LIVING LEFT BEHIND, OIL ON CANVAS, 61 X 51 CM/24 X 20 IN, £4,800

NEW LANGUAGE, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 61 CM/20 X 24 IN, £4,800

FOR THE LIVING LEFT BEHIND No one dead who loved you

Would wish your future years dismembered

Against the rocks of their departure…….

NEW LANGUAGE.

The release form will turn flesh into ash

So my brother will fit into the small black

plastic box………..




TRANSITION.

Transition is a movement of objects,

Or people, or emotions, through time

From one place to another,

From one state to another…..

TRANSITION, OIL ON CANVAS, 142 X 198 CM/56 X 78 IN, £30,000




WIDOW, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

ASHES, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

WIDOW.

Each movement of his lungs

Had been her countdown to his termination:

Even in the years before hospital,

After the birth of her son,

After the purchase of a townhouse and the sale

Of an open-topped sports car………

ASHES.

He is boxed beside her in the bedroom

Where he’ll rest more obediently than in life;




ABOUT LOSS, OIL ON CANVAS, 61 X 51 CM/24 X 20 IN, £4,800

AFTER THE FUNERAL, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40 CM/20 X 16 IN, £5,000

ABOUT LOSS.

We borrow people, by blood or birth, marriage or

friendship,

But they are not ours to keep……..

AFTER THE FUNERAL.

………as one of four,

I carried your casket

Into the crowded church……..




PLANNING AHEAD, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

WOLF, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

PLANNING AHEAD

What we become tomorrow

Is because of the choice we make today.

WOLF.

It lay quiet. So still, hardly breathed.

For years you thought it was dead.

Couldn’t see the blood pumping beneath red

fur,

Couldn’t feel the heartbeat…………




MAN IN A CARE HOME BED, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

EGGS, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

MAN IN A CARE HOME BED.

….He is disparaging too, in his lack of

pleasantry,

Of the old man’s slackening grip on things

Like plates and spoons, the concept of infin-

ity,

Or anything with liquid in………

EGGS.

……I have a photograph:

My mother is laughing,

Holding me against the bulge

Of my unborn brother, kitten strangling

In my eager palms……….




SHED VISION, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

SELFIE, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

SHED VISION. I want, the man said, a shed

At the bottom of the garden;

In it I would put a lathe,

A jig saw, a plane,

An electrical sander and all I need

To make another shed…….

SELFIE.

You want to fix yourself into that event

With an image of the volcano, or street

killing,

Or house fire, or fornicating bull-

frogs…….




COMMITMENT, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

FACTS, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

COMMITMENT.

If you do this one thing

(Whatever it is)

It may pin you to an event,

Or a person; a religion or a political party…..

FACTS.

Your illumination of all the facts

Will damn you in politics




THE IDEA OF PENNIES 2, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40CM/20 X 16 IN, £4,000

WINNING POEM, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

THE IDEA OF PENNIES.

(A response to James Joyce’s Poems a Penny Each

to accompany six paintings.)

The painter thinks of the poet

In his book-stacked study, or bare beamed gar-

ret,

Or on a washed rock at the river’s edge,

Scribbling words to draw blood

Through the veins

Of a pale daughter who’s hands

Are as frail as white roses…….

WINNING POEM.

……If a poem be a distillation

Of image, idea and emotion,

With handles that give the mental fingers

Of a curious mind a grip on the truth

Of a cup, a plate, a sinking ship,

Or a faithless lover lying naked………




THE GIFT, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

RECIPE FOR EXPLODING CAT, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

THE GIFT.

A bowl of crystal struck

With all the fissures of stone

Was a gift.

Hand-held by lamas

Its cup was carved to be

A skull-top, rocking;

It held a friend once……

RECIPE FOR EXPLODING CAT.

Everyone knows that it takes a toaster,

A cat, a sense of curiosity, and a slice of

bread……




PLAYING GODS, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £3,500

MY FATHER’S STONE, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

PLAYING GODS.

Three boys are playing with stones in the dirt.

They decide to call them gods because gods

Are omnipotent; gods can do anything……

MY FATHER’S STONE.

My father’s memorial stone floats

Off into space like a balloon,

Unanchored by his children

Who are strangers to it……..




BAREFOOT, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

FREE SPEECH, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

BAREFOOT.

The child I was walked barefoot

On the treacle of tarmac

In the village road………

FREE SPEECH.

You are not free to speak your mind

If your opinion does not comply




THERSITES AS LODGER, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

DENIAL OF A LIE, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

THERSITES AS LODGER.

Hagged and squiffling he was joyous,

Wearing his responsibilities

To the likes of Achilles and Nestor

As adornments too numerous

Not to need a golden chain

From which to hang them……

DENIAL OF A LIE.

‘I did not lie’, he said, lying,

His many undertakings

Broken like slabs from God’s Mount,

Dropped by a change of mind

And a hand, clumsy of others…..




DISSECTION, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

THE NUMBER, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40 CM/20 X 16 IN, £4,000

DISSECTION.

She’s a clever woman, that one, she knit

Her words like poison charm, her wit,

Sharp like hypodermic………

THE NUMBER.

He could see her string

Was wearing thin. It held

Her two middle-aged ends together

To prevent her torso

Separating from her pins……




BROTHER’S BIRTH, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

HANDS, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £4,000

BROTHER’S BIRTH.

Well, there he is; my brother,

Squawking and bald

And attention’s centre

As if he were a wheel-spoke.

I hope he grows hair………

HANDS.

There is elation,

Or joy,

Or death

In each finger,

Sometimes all three…….




POTENTIAL, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

POET AS A TEENAGER, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, SOLD

POTENTIAL.

When born we are planted

But it is always

Up to us to flower.

POET AS A TEENAGER.

Years ago my landscape had fewer mountains

and cliff edges,

But more fleshy pitfalls………




THE POET BEGINS, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40 CM/20 X 16 IN, £4,000

THE POLITICIAN ENDS (ECHO), OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 51 CM, 16 X 20 IN, £4,000

THE POET BEGINS.

The poet begins; he inscribes

His first poet-thought

On important paper. He studies it

As if the words already

Breathe without him……..

THE POLITICIAN ENDS. His work embodies him and he is emboldened to find A woman who will cultivate it as she would roses……




WOMAN AS WINDOW (REFLECTIONS), OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 61 CM/18 X 24 IN, £4,500

THOUGHT, OIL ON CANVAS, 102 X 76 CM/40 X 30 IN, £10,000

WOMAN AS WINDOW.

….I watch you glitter; your reflections

Dance back at you from the eyes of others

As you step into your new world…..

THOUGHT

Embryonic little spark

Finds its way through the maze

Of head-mass and channels

That could lead it astray……




PURPLE TRIANGLES, OIL ON CANVAS, 51 X 40 CM/20 X 16 IN, £4,000

THE IDEA, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN £4,800

PURPLE TRIANGLES

There are scraps of poems heaped and left

Lying all over the house

That I have no memory of writing:

Scribbles of thoughts, some of which rhyme…..

THE IDEA.

……..I want you to say

‘I have no idea what that is’,

Then I can tell you all about

This new thing that is my idea…..




RELATIVE VALUES, OIL ON CANVAS, 46 X 36 CM/18 X 14 IN, £4,500

MEMORY LOSS 1, OIL ON CANVAS, 40 X 30 CM/16 X 12 IN, £3,200

RELATIVE VALUES.

Relatives know how to pull the root

That taps our most sensitive nerve.

MEMORY LOSS 1: Departure

During her visit to see

My six month old brother,

My grandmother

Digs a hole in my mother

Into which my father falls……






MEMORY LOSS 2: Separation Unconscious on my feet was I aware

Of my father’s almost daily visits

As he came and went?........

MEMORY LOSS 3: Waking Nameless

On waking, my head

Did not hold any recollection

Of the last place I’d been

Before I opened my eyes……..





MOTHERS, OIL ON CANVAS, 122 X 92 CM/48 X 36 IN, £14,000

MEMORY LOSS 4: Nesting

……I built myself houses

With books on end across the floor

As walls for rooms

With halls, and gaps for doors……

MOTHERS

……..For years

I dragged that hole around with me

Like a piece of missing ground

For other women to fall into.

But if I saw a mother in them

They saw my mother in me…….




FOR SHURA.

Have I denied you a father

As your mother

Denied me mine?.......

FOR SHURA, OIL ON CANVAS, 61 X 76 CM/24 X 30 IN, £5,500


frieda hughes - alternative values

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