Finished for Better or Worse

Well here they are, my three pieces for the exhibition
I dont know about them now, the usual doubts about them come into play as always
but here goes



Armour
We all apply a type of armour everyday to survive life,
masking fears and insecurities.
Some of us would like the courage to be a warrior and
others would just like to avoid it.
Silk paper, thread, glass, metal, board and cotton fabric.

This came about because of a number of events over the past few months. I was conscious of donning the armour that many (who think they know me) think is the real me. Perhaps that is the problem in the conflict that I had with some is that I have never let them in but conversely they have never demonstrated anything that would cause me to WANT to let them in. Hence the armour.



This is

Tear Down my Tattered Ensign

Cause and effect. Flags and lives tattered by black and white men.

Cotton fabric, manipulated digital imagery, scanned currency.

My political piece. A tattered flag patched together with a rogues gallery and currency. Torn strips of cloth in red white and blue that occurs in SO many flags but particularly the US, UK and Oz flags in this particular time in history. It always amuses me that the black and whiteness of the view of the current leaders of these countries are actually doing to the images of their nations by their actions. They are the ones actually devaluing the symbols that they so aciduously insist they revere.
The rogues gallery from top are Saddam Hussein, George W Bush, Pinochet, Dick Cheney, The Marcos', Tony Blair, John Howard, OBL, Somoza. Rumsfeld and Pol Pot. The Shah of Iran and Mobuto appear on some currency and the currency is from the US, Oz, Chile, Nicuragua, Guatemala, Chile, Indonesia, Philipines, Afghanistan, Iraq, Argentina etc. The funny thing when I was assembling the piece Bin Laden's image kept falling off and it was joked that even he could not stand the company he was in. Basically the cause and effect of the foreign policies of nations are still reverberating around us but the present want to shut off an examination of past mistakes and seem keen on making their own worse blunders. Fools!
Phew that is my soapbox session over


Finally this is titled:


Drowning

Drowning in
Despair
Guilt
Fear
Anger
Madness
or .......
Just Drowning.

Silk paper.

The colours are a bit off on this picture- the red tones have more blue in them- my palette of water colours again. Again this was about some recent events in my life. The sense of losing control and being overwhelmed by things beyond your control. A common enough sensation for many of us in this day and age I suppose but mostly about the most mundane of details that can trigger this sensation.

Weirdly enough in many ways this is a dark collection of work but perhaps due to the work I dont find myself in a dark place at this time and place. Life is busy and fun even if tiring but each bit of exhaustion has a sense of contentment about it. A sense of accomplishment maybe? oh well we will see
:-)
/R