I am an environmental artist. My interest is painting damaged landscapes and documenting the purposeful destruction of the natural world by our human interventions. Land clearing, forestry, fire, feral animals, floods, water mismanagement are all contributing to the degradation of our countryside. While, in essence, I paint landscapes, I am not concerned with capturing beauty – beauty is now a false construct in landscape painting. It lulls the viewer into a mistaken belief that all is well, a dangerous delusion, encouraged by visiting selected beautiful views or walks that disguise the far greater ravages on the land that exist just a few hundred yards away. Go walk around Beech Forrest in the Otways or drive through the logging coups in North East Victoria or where feral animals on the High Plains have destroyed fragile river and tarn environments. You will see the real landscapes there.
Poisoned Ground and After the Loggers left are the first in a series that I will do in 2022.
I hope my paintings encourage viewers to take action to stop the rot; to work to restore what has been destroyed and be vigilant of companies and individuals who want to continue to clear land, pasture animals in National Parks, destroy sacred sites and dam rivers to change the natural flows of water. Let’s leave something for our children to love and enjoy in the natural world. |
