18 Jul 2011

The Apotheosis of the Thylacine


Oil on cardboard  21" x 20" inches


My new piece 'The Apotheosis of the Thylacine
for Copro Gallery 'Genesis to Revelation' group show 
in Santa Monica, CA, United States. 
This is the first time my work has been shown abroad. 
Oh~~~how I wish I could be there... ...
The exhibition runs from 29th July to 6th August
Preview available on 23rd July

http://www.copronason.com/genesis_pr.html


Here are my thoughts behind:

The thylacine (vernacular name ‘Tasmanian Wolf’) was the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. That was until man entered the picture. A combination of aggressive great white hunter culling and the introduction of competitive predators by humans pushed this shy, beautiful and somewhat clumsy creature to the brink of extinction by the early twentieth century. The thylacine was once found on the Australian mainland and New Guinea but by the mid 1930s only one specimen, named Benjamin remained in captivity in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania. Benjamin succumbed to neglect the way the rest of his species had. On September 7th, 1936 he died after being locked out of his sleeping quarters: an undignified end to this now extinct animal. Although several short film clips have survived and interest in the genus has grown since its demise, no authenticated sightings have been recorded since.
In my piece the thylacine is happily reborn to redress the hideous imbalance precipitated by man’s ignorance. This splendid creature walked the earth for millions of years but its numbers were decimated in little more than a lifetime.  




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