Origins
A Broken Land is a series of figurative paintings begun in 2023.
The idea grew from memories of encountering deserts in America, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. Yet, some thoughts were rooted elsewhere. For example, I was reading Don Quixote at the time I began this work. Quixote is a fantasist, intent on acts of chivalry in the name of a woman who does not exist. A symbol, possibly, for an artist who spends his life pursuing impossible dreams.
World Building
I also think it is relevant that I once worked as a theatre carpenter building sets and scenery, and also window displays for department stores.
So, having stirred the pot, I made two digital prints of imaginary scenes from a production of the ballet Don Quixote.
A painter is in the position of being a designer, not only for lighting and sets, but also costume, and choreography.
The Man in a White Suit
Enter Jake
Wishing to develop this theme of self-deception, I moved away from a theatrical staging and towards a cinematic world.
“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown_(1974_film)
I decided to take a very direct cinematic reference from what I consider to be one of Hollywood’s greatest movies. Enter Jake Gittes played by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
Coincidentally, or not, I’ve written five crime novels. One features a PI, the others policemen, civilian and military. All attempt to unlock mysteries, but one in particular is incapable of seeing what is directly in front him.
My pictorial protagonist offered a way forward, and by placing him in a desert setting I was able to develop visual metaphors, namely relationships between humans and the earth.
One Becomes Two
I was determined to inject a sense of mystery into these pictures. After all, I wanted them to reference cinematic drama. So the man was never enough. He needed a partner, a woman.
Like the man, she is often unsuitably dressed for the desert. Is she a lover, a wife, a mistress, a friend, or even a victim? Or maybe she is calling the tune? A siren perhaps, leading Odysseus towards disaster.
Or are they both victims of hubris?
Sometimes my characters’ faces are hidden. But does their stance, or posture, reveal something about what they are thinking?
Desert
Earth, Trees, and an Ex-Vulture
This dry and barren land, cracked and broken by drought and heat, may lead one to the conclusion that these paintings are simply a commentary on global warming. However, initially I was thinking of a metaphor for my country, hence why I also toyed with the idea of depicting car crashes.
There is a barren acacia tree in most of these paintings, but rarely other flora and fauna, although a vulture did make a guest appearance. That bird has now been removed, I suspect never to return.
This is the painting I thought was finished, only it wasn’t.
I have used trees before in my work where they act as symbols. For example, during the Covid pandemic I painted an oak as a symbol of strength and resilience.
Elsewhere, as a reaction to the current political and economic state of the UK, I used a blasted oak.
Ways of Seeing
Points of View
I experimented with points-of-views, no longer satisfied with much of my previous work where the viewer’s eye-line, and hence the horizon, coincides with the subject’s eye-line. The effects of breaking with this convention can be dramatic. Also, harking back to ballet, I even looked to introduce dance.
Tesla
Keyless or Clueless?
Humanity’s reliance on technology to solve problems, be that environmental or otherwise, is one of several themes in this series.
My characters were in need of transport, something that got them into trouble in the first place. A Tesla fitted the bill.
Now, try plugging this statement into a search engine:
Elon Musk is part of humanity’s problem rather than its solution.
While driving a Tesla into a desert is, within certain limits, possible, it is not always a great idea.
For Lost Connections (above), I place the viewer in the same position as the two figures. In other words on the ground. However, as an old-school gesture of respect, the woman is seated on something, probably a suitcase.
Ambiguity and Interpretation
Does art ever provide definitive answers, and is that its purpose?
These paintings are a synthesis of many thoughts. Not all of them were apparent when I began making them. Things would gradually appear from the fog. Some would be cast aside while others, to quote Chinatown’s producer, Robert Evans, stayed in the picture.
They hint at a mystery, where the narrative is fighting a battle for clarity. Viewers will have different interpretations based on their own experiences of life and art. I have no desire to pin down their exact meaning. Instead, I prefer to leave that to others. Ambiguity never goes amiss in art.
As others have said:
We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.
Gallery of Paintings
