Landscapes and Cityscapes
No. Of People 2011
55 X 72 cm
oil on canvas
The country road and fields is the view from a small town in Sweden called Järvsö.
The painting suggests that a value/number be ascribed to everything material in our
world.
It is usually a monetary value forming the basis on which a decision is “logically” taken.
The sustainability of our natural environment cannot have a monetary value, we
cannot commodify nature. It precedes all our subjective values. It is the pre-requisite for our existence and consciousness.
The number in the painting is approximately the number of people living on Earth in 2011.
The Primary 2010
73 X 91cm
oil on canvas
Eikon is illustrating themes that centre on the ideas of truth, new technologies, global warming, the American pivot to the East, global justice, extreme political movements, nuclear war and food security (“Fiat Panis”).
These are positioned in a setting with a “humanoid” who is being sacrificed on a crucifix. The humanoid is unlike the Christ figure on the cross for it is unshackled and free and alive and is not sacrificing itself but rather the planet as it is hopeless to discover remedies for the problems it produces.
The humanoid is a reference to the past and humanity’s preoccupation with religious iconography but it also leapfrogs this iconographical reference into an unknown present or future- so that it takes the concept of sacrifice and who is being martyred now takes on a new meaning.
The highly intelligent raven on the opposite side of the cross (to the semi conductor) is both an ominous or transformational symbol in western art.
Blue Atlantic 2021
60 X 72 cm
oil on canvas
The painting shows a view from the promenade in Cape Town looking inland from the sea to the buildings, and the mountain beyond.
The beautiful cityscape is reflected in a surface or mirror which has been shattered. The idyllic setting, somewhat lifeless, is contrasted by the brokenness of the South African society and that of many other Western liberal democracies.
Before Us 2011
80 X 72 cm
oil on canvas
This is an interior portrait scene of the entrance hall of my apartment.
Except the space is furnished with objects of war: Land, Sea and Air assets.
The viewer will also see representation of The magnificent 7 (aka “Big Tech”), a detail of Caravaggio’s David and Goliath, seven blank canvasses, and the text “God is Great” in Arabic in the top left hand corner.
The painting is identifying 3 existential threats to our survival: war, AI (and the effects of technology on our human connections), and the Anthropocene (as illustrated by the frog on the pillow).
The number 7 is a lucky number when gambling and it is repeated thrice as objects in the painting. Humanity is going to need luck to achieve a benign outcome with the
cards we presently hold. The 7 blank canvases are representative of the future days to come which are still be painted in and recorded.
The myth of the David and Goliath story where the physically lessor believer slays the Giant non believer is a tale which mirrors our pathological tendency to believe in and entertain fantastical outcomes (as compared to a realistic outcome based on present conditions).
The title “Weird Realism” comes from the explorations of the “weird” and the place it holds in speculative realism- a literary genre which is states that reality can exist independently of human perception…and thus these inanimate objects (of war and technology etc) almost take on a life of their own, making reality increasingly “weird”.