O DELUGE, STOP SINGING, WE’RE DROWNING
2023
-
- Olympian Oversight (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 97.5 x 96 cm • $4,000
-
- Divine Abandon (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 94 x 94 cm • $4,100
-
- Oblivious (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 98 x 96 cm • $4,100
-
- Heroine (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 90.5 x 92.5 cm • $4,200
-
- Heavenly Body (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 94.5 x 94 cm • $4,200
-
- Finale (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 98 x 96.5 cm • $4,000
-
- Faithless (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 98 x 96.5 cm • $4,200
-
- All Glory (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 98.5 x 97 cm • $4,200
-
- Darling Debut (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 97.5 x 95.5 cm • $4,300
-
- Etherifying (2023) • Mixed-media and wax on Paper • Artwork bounds approx 80 x 80 cm • Paper size 98.5 x 97 cm • $4,200
O Deluge, Stop Singing, We’re Drowning Artist’s Statement
This exhibition started life as a series of small landscapes using watercolour, and monotype techniques; working sketches for larger paintings exploring family histories. Though I have a passion for landscapes, I always feel they’re empty without a figure in them. Photographs I took of flooded roads in Wairarapa during the winter of 2022 served as inspiration for some sketches that often featured people swimming in the floodwaters. This imagery highlighted the state of our polluted rivers, leaving floodwaters as the alternative for swimming. A rabbit/human character emerged in my work, initially as a playful reference to ‘the present,’ inspired by Maurice Sendak’s rabbit from ‘Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present.’ Then as I moved away from the family history theme, the rabbit changed and came to represent my hopes for the current year as ‘The Year of the Rabbit.’
The theme further evolved, presenting the rabbit figure as a plot device—a ‘Deus ex Machina’— introduced to resolve the dilemma of fixing the flooded landscape. Eventually, the rabbit transformed into several flood gods with rabbit-human bodies, frolicking while the world around them drowns.
My process underwent a transformation as well as the graphite sketches and the monotypes merged. I used the monotype technique to create large areas of flat colour and texture, then drew over the top with water-soluble graphite to add line, motion, and more linear texture.
The artworks are created on 300gsm Strathmore Bristol paper, which works well with various media. I also find it interesting that the artworks are vulnerable to flooding. Despite being protected by a thin layer of wax, they would disintegrate if exposed to water.
A common thread through my work is my desire to tell stories that resonate universally.
