Angel Passage | The Blake Video

 

 

In addition to creating the artwork for Angel Passage, I produced the video accompaniment for the original performance of the piece as part of The Tygers of Wrath, a William Blake celebration staged at The Purcell Room, London, 2nd February 2001. This event was organised by the Tate Gallery as part of their definitive Blake exhibition.

Running order of the evening was as follows: Billy Bragg / Iain Sinclair and Brian Catling / Jah Wobble and Deep Space / interval / Alan and Tim / Simon Boswell with guests Ewan MacGregor, Dave Rowntree (Blur), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and others.

Also on stage with Alan and Tim was dancer Andrea Svajcsik whose fire-breathing act was about all she managed due to the limitations of the stage area. Alan's scheme divided Blake's life into four sections: Innocence, Hell, Experience, Heaven.

The Inferno section (the garish red images below) used a sequence from Dante's Inferno (1935), a film by Harry Lachman (here tinted). Lachman's images were themselves derived from the engravings of Gustave Doré and have also been appropriated in the past by Kenneth Anger, Derek Jarman and Ken Russell.

Read Jay Babcock's review of the event, and an interview with Alan Moore, here.