We’re Skewed:
A Critique of Modernity
Risk Society 2017
116 X 97 cm
oil on canvas
The painting “ Risk Society”(2017) reveals to the viewer eight separate planes of view. The landscape is in the foreground and the other seven planes behind it.
The painting shows signs and symbols, text and a landscape- a part of the Earth. The texts are quotes from political leaders whose content appeals to our common sense of humanity, shared responsibilities and togetherness to overcome adversity- a plea, a truth to our higher virtues.
This is in opposition to the symbols showing discord and opposing political positioning (where “Right” is “Left”). This contradiction between truth and fiction- reality and fantasy (such as Left/Right suggest as Orwellian interpretation of the world.
The partial US flag in the last plane is not red and white but grey and black. This may be extended to the idea/story of who we are- in that it is skewed. The Skewness is also about skewed development- the unequal nature of development among nations – a consequence of colonialism and resource extraction by the rich at the expense of the poor.
This unequal development has shaped modernity as we know it and it is this skewness that I critique. Mother Earth, as represented by a natural landscape, is in the foreground…what do we choose to ground our future on?
Boxed- In 2016
116 X 97 cm
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.