Maldoror by Chris Bond

MAYOR’S PRIZE WINNER – acquisitive

oil on linen, paper | 40 x 25

I first picked up the controversial proto-surrealist novel Maldoror at the suggestion of a teacher more than twenty years ago. Reading it felt forbidden and potentially dangerous, and I remember feeling uncertain as to whether I should relish or be repulsed by its lurid and grotesque subject matter. Having recently returned to the novel, I can’t help but see a younger version of myself reflected in the mirror, with a skin now cracked and stained, a tremulous hand cautiously lifting the lid of the coffin, equally appalled and attracted to the evil of the human condition.