The Origin of Roger Law’s Fogg Dam Tapestry
Roger Law photographed with his Fogg Dam Tapestry at Fen Ditton Gallery, June 2019
In true Roger Law style, when I asked Roger how the tapestry came to life, his response was 'because I could'. But there is more to the story than that. The production of the tapestry began through a challenge that Roger set to his good friend, Adam Lowe, who is the founder (and in Roger's words, genius) of Factum Arte.
Facsimile installed at Fondazione Giorgio Cini . Dimensions 9.55 x 6.98m. Photograph from Factum Arte website
You may be aware of the painting 'Wedding at Cana' by Paolo Veronese, which originally decorated the refectory at the San Giorgio Maggiore church in Venice. This was until 11 September 1797 when Napoleon claimed it as war booty, had his men cut it into strips and reconstruct it back in France to be hung in the Louvre Museum, where it still stands today. In Autumn 2006, the Louvre Museum came to an agreement with Fondazione Giorgio Cini and granted access for Factum Arte, specialists in digital art reproduction, to record the painting. The conditions were carefully set out: the recording process had to be completely non-contact, there were the highest of conversation specifications, which had to be approved by Veritas, no external lighting or scaffolding and it must take place when the museum was closed to the public. In response, Factum Arte built a non-contact colour scanning system that uses a large format CCD and integrated LED lights, mounted onto a precision built telescopic mast that scanned the 67.29 sqm painting at 8cm from the surface. To cut a long story short, the painting was then reproduced and now hangs in the San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice once again. Venice were, of course, thrilled - so much so that when Adam Lowe was to be married, the wedding feast took place under the 'Wedding at Cana'. Roger attended the wedding and was, understandably, blown away. In more recent years, Adam travels to war zones to scan and reproduce paintings and murals that have been destroyed through conflict.
So that brings us to Roger who, after completing a series of watercolours during his time in Australia, worked closely with Adam and his team to create the Fogg Dam Tapestry, believing it would create a beautiful piece of work, but not convinced the quality of the washes and mixes of watercolours that are so poignant to the medium could be recreated. Of course, Adam proved Roger wrong (or right, depending on how you look at it) and therefore the tapestry came to be. It was woven by Flanders Tapestries in Belgium.
From original watercolour ‘Early Morning - Fogg Dam’
143 x 197cm
Acrylic, wool, cotton and assorted yarns sources from Italy, Spain and Japan