F.U.B.A.R. Painting

The initial idea for this work was to paint a kind of C20th 'Garden of Earthly Delights'. I began the picture around 1998, blocking in the basic composition. I was working with imagery related to conflict at the time and had a whole series of works on the go. I reached an impasse with the canvas quite quickly so stacked it against the wall, where it remained till 2003, when it sprung to mind once again with the advent of the 2nd Gulf War. I lay everything I could aside and spent a solid fortnight finishing the painting. The two trees represent Life and Knowledge. From them a cluster of insect like helicopters sprout and below the trees on closer inspection, there is a small cluster of stealth fighters lurking. The landscape became a surreal juxtaposition of Scottish and Eastern topography. The seascape has something of the Forth Estuary about it, with the unusual hummocks in the middle foreground being reminiscent of the Isle of Skye, where I had just produced an installation. An Assyrian Bull takes up centre stage with an armed soldier striding forward on his on his back like a Pharaoh on an ornament. Scattered around are various temples interspersed with dwellings. It is on one level a tranquil and beautiful scene, a world bathed in sunlight and a meditative blue sky but of course the irony is that there is a darkness and chaos which is spreading across the land. The materials used are museum standard wooden stretchers, which can disassemble, and reassembled with the canvas, if the piece cannot be shipped as a whole. The canvas is high grade cotton duck, primed with gesso and the colours are Artists Quality pigment.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:75.2 W x 82.7 H x 1.6 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.