Janus' Challenge - A History of My Suburb Painting

We tend to think of land as a surface, whether it is a traditional landscape, a headland, an island or even wasteland. In other words, land is regarded as an area. However, I tend to regard land as the depth or thickness of the earth’s crust. There are two main types of crust, ocean crust and continental crust. The ocean crust is 5 – 10 kms thick and the continental crust is 30 – 50 km thick. And these crusts comprise many layers with a variety of components. Looking at it in this way, land can be seen as a volume which has mass. Apart from contemplating about how land may be considered, I have also been thinking about how we use land. Land is used in a wide variety of ways so I have narrowed my interest for this project to simply how land is used in suburbia. In a sense, my proposal is a rather obvious observation on how land in the suburban environment has been used. But at a time when land, housing, population growth and infrastructure are “hot” topics it is useful to look at how we are currently using land. Since I live on Sydney's Northern Beaches, I have restricted my observation to typical suburban land use in this area alone, but it also applies to many other locations. This is a 4-panel work in which: • Land is represented by a beautiful abstract painting (or paintings) which implies that it comprises many layers of a wide variety of substances including aquifer water. • The first panel shows unspoilt land, ie as described above. • The second panel superimposes on the unspoilt land an early housing development, namely an “old fashioned” weekender. • The third and fourth panels progress by showing later stages of housing development in this area up to the present time. This work is not saying that development should not take place. It may be considered as an observation from which the viewer can draw her/his own conclusions, or as a commentary on how we have chosen to use land to develop our suburban environment and this could lead to consideration on how land might be better utilised.

Multi-paneled Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:84 W x 48 H x 2 D in

Number of Panels:2

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