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Ever since the Pyramids, and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were unearthed, we as humans have tried to evoke the profound role the environment plays in shaping our perception. From the decorative filigree of the Pompeiian interiors, in which vegetation, lush and evocative, shared a world with humans and exotic beasts; we have been drawn to the relativism of us as both ‘nature’ and ‘animal’. Many were borne by a European tradition of leaves, landscapes and myth. For others, a landscape and myth unadorned by paint, but alive in the 'spirit of place'. In Aboriginal Australia its called “country”, and encompasses a reality beyond the physical realm. For those not attuned, their receptors are dulled by modernity and economic bottom line, they would rather it be blown up into fragments. Because those fragments of connection to a spiritual place are long gone. Which poses the question, perhaps we need to go backwards? Rather than pretend to go forwards. Its a paradox that haunts those who think Martian colonies will save us.
Sadly, with the age of enlightenment, and the wonders of natural history collecting, it became a manifest destiny for humans to exploit and derive wealth from “ nature” as an end in itself. Science and art have always held a deep bond, because they’re above all ‘feeling’ and ‘thinking’ disciplines. Without them we become mired in the world of certainty and the dull plod of ideology. What a delight then, an artist who recaptures the spiritual yearning of the ancients, and yet reimburses it with a spirit of the potential for us to ‘re- invent’ ourselves. Poised somewhere between ideology, a fractured environment and the conflict between the humans, and the rest of creation.
(David McCubbin 2022)
Artist Statement "Metamorphosis" 2022:
My recent research has taken me on a journey from Antiquity, Alchemy and eternal life, to the concept of a "nature park cemetery", burial grounds with native bushland to provide a space that is resource-neutral and open to the public (for walking, picnics, birdwatching, botany).
"Metamorphoses" poses the question of our time. Have we got time? I invite you, the audience, to think about it. Stop and slow down. Consider ourselves anthropomorphic, sharing precious space with other organisms. How can we survive together on a crowded planet. How can we recapture a spiritual lineage, and reimburse it with a spirit of the potential? The exhibition title is inspired by poet Ovid's approach to his book Metamorphosis. He interpreted greek mythology in an arbitrary fashion, by jumping from one transformation tale to another."
My work explores the idea of a non-binary relationship between humans and the natural world, and nature as a reflection of the psyche and spirit. I am interested in the more mysterious aspects of one’s lived experience; of being a celestial body living on this planet, living in nature and urbanity, how to make sense of the experience of both isolation and connection. My paintings evoke strange places and inner worlds, and explore the relationship between human and animal; drawing upon my local environment. The experience of ‘self’ and one’s senses are interpreted through an illusory habitat, and its botanical, animal and plant forms. Animal avatars act as emotional doubles, in the process of metamorphosis, human and animal in anthropomorphic fusion with each other. The portrayal of animals also reflects an artist’s creative plight - rebellion, instinct, authenticity, freedom, solitude. You will discover frequently used visual motifs and symbols, stemming from my fascination with illustrations from Edwardian fairy-tales, and medieval alchemical drawings.
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