Out of the Black
This work embodies the state of mankind today and our imprint on the planet. For the most part we are destroying it. We take natural resources and create garbage and pollution. We invade the habitats of other life forms, take them over and drive them out. We know it’s bad but we can’t stop because we love all the cool shiny new technology we make. We love Tuna and we want to keep eating it. These creatures have been all been created, loved, abandoned and finally entombed in a symbolic black rubber skin. Wrenched out of the blue (the natural living world) and thrown into the black (the artificial or “dead” world that we create). They are sad in their bedraggled state but also simultaneously shiny and attractive and I am struck by their iconic beauty. Cute yet Dark – whimsical but cynical. I’m curious that we’re attracted to this interesting mix of characteristics? Is it to do with our conflicted nature? We love and marvel at life but even the smallest child instinctively revels in destruction and curiously kills a bug? I’ve called the show “Out of the Black” as I’m hopeful that we’re now collectively changing our ways.