José Rodeiro Egyptian Bodegon, oil-on-canvasboard, 16” x 20,” 2009.

José Rodeiro’s still-life entitled Egyptian Bodegon (oil-on-canvasboard, 16” x 20,” 2009) is a study in motifs, reminiscent of early Scuola Metafisica still-lifes by Giorgio Morandi. Strewn about the mostly analogous composition are various chess-pieces, which allude to the 7th Century CE Indian-derived game of Chess. Crucial to the composition is a small New Kingdom Egyptian burial-figurine (ushabti), which depicts the hybrid-divinity (hawk-man) Horus (the son of the Egyptian god Osiris). All living pharaohs were the vicars of Horus, while his father Osiris was recognized as the divine personification of all dead pharaohs in the afterlife. In this work, Rodeiro psychologically addresses the unique relationship between fathers and sons, as well as older-relatives and children; since (according to mythology), Horus along with his mother Isis helps to revive the dead Osiris. In this paternal-light, chess is an activity that is often passed on by parents or other family members to their children. As a child in Tampa, Florida, Rodeiro was taught chess by his Uncle “Tio Sabin.” The image’s array of scattered citrus alludes to Florida; the floating French-curves acknowledge Hogarth’s claim that French-curves are the most beautiful of all shapes.