Description

On the left panel, hidden behind a drawn, shadowy medical curtain, a skeletally thin patient in a blue hospital gown sits in bed. By his side, a male companion, dressed in all black, holds his fragile wrist. Time elapses as one turns their gaze to the right panel. Now, the patient is deceased. His depleted, ravaged body lies covered by a black sheet. The companion stands at the foot of the hospital bed, as the makeshift curtain on the window loses its hold, allowing the outside world a glimpse at the sorrowful scene. This diptych portrays a tragic, lost battle with AIDS. The artist, Patrick Webb, portrays visiting his boyfriend as he fights the virus. Webb witnessed the malpractice of caregivers, reluctant to touch AIDS patients. Such neglectful actions ultimately induced states of stigmatized isolation for these patients. They reflected society's heightened and undeserved villainization for homosexual communities during the epidemic. Throughout Webb’s works, a character known as Punchinello frequently appears. Punchinello is a masked figure, representative of a Zanni from commedia dell’arte productions. A zanni takes on the role of the servant stock character. They are the supporting character, representative of the minority, the sidekick, the other. Hidden behind masks, a zanni is at liberty to make sly, typically censored, commentary. In Lamentation, Puchinello is an AIDS patient. However, contrary to Puchinello’s usual zanni role, the masked figure takes on a different part in the commedia dell’arte, Lamentation. The standard commedia dell’arte holds the following format: two struggling young lovers, the innamorati, drive the plot. The couple’s love is threatened by community elders, or vecchi. Finally, the zanni, with their notorious lack of inhibition, steps in to save the day. Lamentation comfortably assumes the framework of a commedia dell’arte. However, one is left with the lingering question, who saves the day when the role of innamorati is held by a zanni? Cast as the innamorati is the couple, Punchinello and Patrick Webb. The vecchi are the reluctant, misguided hospital workers. But, who is left to be the zanni? Who offers support when the usual roles are reversed, when the plot strays from the audience's assumptions, when societal molds are broken? The right panel of Lamentation provides evidence to that fact that no one acted as the zanni for Patrick Webb and his lover. No one let go of social protocol to step in when close-minded authority threatened the well-being of others. In a fear-driven, ill-advised society, love and compassion are easily extinguished without the support of others and the welcoming of a community.

Artist Information

Patrick Webb

Entry/Object ID

2866.Pa20

Artwork Details

Date made: circa 1990

Medium: Oil, gold leaf on panels (diptych)

Dimensions (h x w): 23 in x 38 in

Acquisition

Accession: 2866

Credit Line: Gift from the estate of Robby Brown, 2020

Exhibitions

Recent Gifts to the Permanent Collection (2021, part III of 2020 gifts)