Curatorial Rationale

This exhibition is an exploration of animal and humanity’s interconnectedness, and the results of this symbiotic relationship. I wanted to dissect and present my own emotions about the nature of humanity, seen through the animals that are impacted by our actions. The concepts throughout the exhibition are the ‘ambition of man’, and the resulting consequences. My artworks explore ideas of nature underneath the rule of man, through forms of betrayal, submission, dependence and alienation. These ideas have originated from my own experiences working with animals, and the ethical questions that arose as a result. These paintings are an extension of those questions, rather than answers.

The exhibition takes the succinct form of a journey. Viewers are encouraged to start at any artwork, but end at the same destination, which is my central painting, “And Here I Am”. It is positioned at the centre  of the exhibition, allowing viewers to examine other works as they approach the large canvas. Clay sculptures are placed in the middle of the exhibition, allowing for a full view of these ceramics, adding to the themes of each work. The physical presentation of the exhibition itself explores opposites, where two conceptually opposed artworks appear next to the other, creating an asynchronous atmosphere.

Issues with the environment being impacted by humans, are explored by comparing different realities for different species. Some works are more abstracted or political than others, for example “The Same Reason as Always”, however, this dissonance can also perpetuate the strange relationship between humans and the natural world. Many of the artworks are oil paint on canvas, and represent imagery based on realism. I have used distinct palettes for each painting to represent different ideas, where “As the Earth Grows, So Does My Love for You” is bright and featured a large variety of pigments, in comparison to “Below the Gaze” which only uses brown, blue and white to reflect the painting’s withdrawn appearance.

I would like the works to evoke questions about responsibility with the viewer. I am not provoking an accusatory tone or guilt towards my viewers, as I want them to truly engage and understand the messages within each work.

As the artworks have distinct characteristics, styles, art forms, techniques and messages, the overall exhibition may appear jarring. This communicates the complexity of nature, and our relationship with it. Some works are confronting, such as “Flesh is Fresh”. A fish waiting to be consumed stares out of the tank directly into the viewers gaze, contrasted to its opposite, “Below the Gaze”, where we, the viewer, look inside the peaceful, deeper world of whales.

Opposing works are centred around similar animals. “And Here I Am” is a mix of charcoal, ink, and lead on a large cut of brown paper, in distinction to “A Taste of Something Familiar”, where oil pastels are used, colours and patterns are the focus of the composition. “As the Earth Grows, So Does My Love for You” uses bright oil paints on a small wood board to depict distant eagles is compared to “The Same Reason as Always”, where a pale dead swan is depicted up close in an exposed, grotesque manner.

The exhibition is a display of pathos, an investigation of what our ideals are, in relation to animals. Many works examine the concept of suffering of animals in the hands of humans. Though we can acknowledge the pain of others, there is an irony of how much these beings need to be humanised in order to be sympathetic. These artworks reflect a larger concept  but these creations are also a reflection of my own judgement and journey in investigating how I feel as a human being, and my own role as a consumer in and of the natural world.

The overarching theme throughout all these works, and what connects them together, is what the touch of man can do to nature, and the destruction that we have wrought on what we came from. Even though some works are ‘peaceful’, there is the inevitability that humanity will eventually catch up to those in the skies and those deep underwater, causing more danger and threat with each intervention.