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Frieze Week Seoul 2023

John Yau on a Painting by Caravaggio

‘All portrait artists / get away with perfect murders’ writes the US poet of Boy Bitten by a Lizard, on tour at Seoul’s National Museum of Korea

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BY John Yau in Frieze Seoul , Frieze Week Magazine | 09 SEP 23

After Caravaggio’s “Boy Bitten by a Lizard”
(1593–94)
John Yau

Being painted by
the hands of a murderer

does not guarantee
you will be remembered

when we know
all portrait artists

get away with perfect murders
not just the ones

who use their bare hands
as your hands are bare

as you pull back, afraid
posing as if you are afraid

this untrue moment
which will become true

once the hairs of the brush
sweep you, bit by bit, into place

Is this lizard destined
to bite and poison you

Do you think you can
avoid this brush with death

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Boy bitten by a Lizard, about 1594-5, The National Gallery
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Boy bitten by a Lizard, c.1594–95. © The National Gallery, London

John Yau is a poet and writer. He lives in New York, USA.

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