Acrylic on Paper; 23 in. by 15 in.
What if animals took over the everyday roles in our lives? Would humankind need to necessarily devolve or could there be coexistence? Would there be conflict? In these first five oil-on- canvas works from a larger set, I explore stories with creatures in our place. A few elements animate this series: 1) a deliberate reverse anthropomorphism that privileges creatures as uncommon subjects and 2) a reinterpretation of well-known visual stories with nothing less than a serious tone that in effect, turns the real into the surreal.
In a Daliesque landscape, the Kangaroo lies almost prostrate and enjoys the sunshine of the beach. It looks over to a group of human beings. We are accustomed to human beings basking and would deem a beach-chair-basking kangaroo an anomaly, but in this scene, can you really tell which is natural and unnatural amidst the setting?