About This Project

OK, I admit it. I agree with you whole-heartedly. This painting is unconventional, unorthodox and, without doubt, eccentric.
Despite that, I rather like it. I did, after all, put paint to canvas to create it.
In my never-ending search for inspiration I uncovered a photograph of a dark-skinned man with white make-up painted on his face. I thought the image both arresting and evocative.
This was particularly unusual for me. As a non-indigenous, white Australian born in North Walesthis ‘evocative image’ led me into unfamiliar territory.
How the whole concept of the painting came about I’m unsure. It was like some bizarrejig-saw puzzle in which the characters and the setting all fell into place and all the pieces slottedtogether.
There are, as you see, three figures in the painting. They all came into being independently of each other.Firstly the tribal character was triggered by the original photo reference but evolved into what you now see immortalised in paint, complete with body decoration.
Similarly the other characters came about in a serendipitous manner. There’s the dog-faced siren with hints of ancient Egypt and then the ‘Koala Kid’ (as I call him) in 21st. century attire complete with ‘Superman’ T-shirt.
So this work I’ve called – Mumbo-Jumbo – because I thought the title, given the work’s imagery, allegory and obvious existential parameters, would prove provocative and edgy!
No, don’t believe a word of it! Just like the painting that’s a complete load of mumbo-jumbo.
Make of it what you will. It’s entirely up to you!