OBLIVION BLUES, Ink and ink wash on paper, 2020, 150cm x 120cm

Throughout the 16th and 17th century there were a large number of recorded incidents of beached whales appearing on the coast of the Netherlands. The images of these events recorded by artists at the time in drawings and engravings captured the public imagination . The spectacle of these events was thought to be a bad omen – a sign from above of impending doom often linked to a natural disaster or military loss. In my recent work I am interested in the ‘excess’ of our time – not only in terms of material excess but of the mental excess from so much media, so much technology. A sense of too much fantasy, too much reality.  In this image I am trying to portray something of the confusion and comedy of this excess along with the strangeness of our age and the sense of darker times ahead.

Displayed as part of Northern Exposure Six, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie, 2020