{"id":10141,"date":"2025-07-14T15:16:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/?p=10141"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:16:25","slug":"a-painting-about-power-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/a-painting-about-power-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"A painting about power relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a370e2a4a78e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a370e2a4a78e\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1465\" height=\"1831\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Contemporary art about power relationships\" class=\"wp-image-10142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025.jpg 1465w, https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-content\/uploads\/tall-stilt-problem-shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery-cropped-2025-1229x1536.jpg 1229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1465px) 100vw, 1465px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Tall Stilt Problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Watercolour and ink on paper.  21x29cm.   2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Exhibited in Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, July &#8211; August 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The painting depicts one of the aspects of power relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It shows two people on stilts \u2013 one on tall stilts and one on shorter stilts. The tall stilts symbolise greater power. The person on the shorter stilts is sawing through one of the tall stilts. This symbolises the deposing of the powerful person on the tall stilts. Significantly, it is the fact that the stilts are so tall that makes them vulnerable to being sabotaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work can be seen as a metaphor for one of the relationships between the powerful and the less powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s also quite funny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tall Stilt Problem Watercolour and ink on paper. 21x29cm. 2025 Exhibited in Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, July &#8211; August 2025 The painting depicts one of the aspects of power relationships. It shows two people on stilts \u2013 one on tall stilts and one on shorter stilts. The tall stilts symbolise greater power. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartoons","category-contemporary-art","category-paintings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10143,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10141\/revisions\/10143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christophermadden.art\/contemporary-art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}