Swampland, 2021
Mixed Media Painting
32 in X48 in
For this Project I was interested in creating artwork that related to the environmental realities of rotting and renewal. I was inspired by estuaries and the decomposition of organic material and how that directly leads to a flourishing ecosystem. In this painting I am examining the nature of swampland’s and mud flats that become the home and graveyard of so much life. When experiencing these types of environments, you can smell the decay, see life bubbling up and picture yourself sinking downward into mud.
Dear Stuart,
You are a remarkably skilled painter. Your depiction of new growth is impressive. However, for the Beyond Death exhibition, I plan to provide opportunities for the public to experience the environments with multiple body senses that you represented in paint – to witness the dynamic transformation of dead matter into life, to actually smell and touch the decay, to engage with “life bubbling up” , perhaps by “sinking downward into the mud”.
Hi Linda,
Thank you for the kind words about my painting. I was thinking about how I could incorporate other sensory components. The possibility I came up with is to have a terrarium set up underneath the painting with decomposing muck and mire taken from a stagnant body of water. I could set up a air pump causing it to Bubble and release the desired smell, sound and image.
Thank you again,
Stuart