Assembled here are images of dogs, horses, and a few other beasts that have been morphed and adapted over the years to express different aspects of feeling and understanding.
(The images date from 1993 to near present.)
“With Painting, the subject matter can be simple or complex. Images are not rote or predictable but inspired by life’s unfolding. One can have a quiet night in the studio as the world somewhere else falls apart. Or one can be falling apart within while the world seems to march on without you” – MA, June 2020.
Some paintings come from a gut feeling. Others come from responding. These ‘beastly’ images were drawn and painted just before and just after 9/11. ‘Double Dragon’ was drawn before 9/11. I remember walking over the Brooklyn Bridge during a visit to NYC in the spring of 2001 and feeling something wasn’t right. ‘Ick ach uck’ is me expressing trying to figure things out post 9/11, to understand, and realized I was too overwhelmed to cohesively explain to others all the information coming. Hence the weird hills of a dessert and mountainous landscape appearing almost alien.
‘My little God’ is my desire for a unifying force (such as the innocent; a little guru; a saviour; intelligence; empathy) to tame all the divisiveness and beastly actions of mankind.
‘Aback’ was to capture the shock of tragedy. As the enemy, the white bird sits across from the not-so-shocked character who rides the beast as it is almost expecting an attack. – MA 2020
Other animal imagery…
The ‘Hope and Salvation’ image: Our culture tells us that ‘money in the bank’ is salvation. On the coin are the words ‘In God we Trust’.
Painting in progress – Dog Eat Dog
