The environment: our place within it and encroachment upon it, juxtaposing abundance and loss. The effects of humanity are implicit within these paintings, even when the human figure is absent or takes a secondary precedence. The process involves traditional painting techniques combined with crystal mosaics involving rigorous methodologies rooted in the historical skills of an ancient art form, yet vibrantly contemporary in a medium synonymous with high fashion and sustainable luxury.

ENDANGERED SPECIES COLLECTION

Crystal mosaics depicting keystone species. The process involves traditional painting techniques and rigorous mosaic methodologies. Rooted in the historical skills of an ancient art form renowned for depicting animal scenes, the mosaics are reimagined here in a vibrantly contemporary medium, synonymous with high fashion and luxury. 

SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL ART

This collection is entitled 'ANTHROPOCENE EXTINCTION' highlights the unnatural pressures inflicted on the natural world by humanity. The monochromatic panels highlight potential irreversible loss, a message which is given further emphasis in the crystal mosaic cross on the face of the principal animal which at once highlights its preciousness and draws attention to its fate. The ghostly female figures are an allegorical reminder that our future is inherently bound up with our treatment of the earth’s natural resources.

ENVIRONMENTAL ART

'ALLEGORIES OF IDENTITY' is influenced by historical paintings and classical sculpture, taking themes from art history and strong female figures in mythology as a starting point and considering contemporary fashion as a means of expression and identity. The female subjects are a combination of statuary and world citizen, free of racially defining features, looking to the future with a mischievous nod to the past in calling attention to the subjectivity of women in the canon of art history. 

THE FEMALE GAZE

Monochromatic oil paintings represent fading memories and loss. A reimagined version of Pietro Longhi’s ‘Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice’ is a starting point for a series of endangered species within urban settings, metaphors for human and animal displacement. Further paintings in this collection reference Guernica, the most famous war painting in art history, thus representing a call to action for war against poaching and habitat loss.

GRISAILLE PAINTING COLLECTION

Allegorical paintings highlighting our dependence on and destruction of ocean habitats.

OCEAN ART COLLECTION

Part of the artists latest and ongoing collection of oil paintings ‘Allegories of Identity’ is inspired by fashion as a means of expressing identity and individuality. The paintings revisit themes from art history and mythology (Mnemosyne, Artemis, Ara Pacis etc). The subjects are a combination of statuary and world citizen, free of racial or defining features and the compositions reflect and set the mood for the couture in the manner of a film set. 

Claire Milner