Soft Savage

Open Studio

Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris

18 December 2016

*The Hunt,* 2016, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm

Chasing Temptation, 2016, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm

*Soft Savage,* 2016, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm

*Rise and Fall*, 2016, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm

*Three Travellers*, 2016, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm

Soft Savage

This work is the result of a Studio Residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2016. Using spontaneous gesture and familiar domestic objects within a contained environment, these works draw parallels between ways ‘wilderness’ is depicted in the natural world, compared depictions in historical artistic and scientific contexts whereby ‘nature’ is presented as spectacle in a settings that stand between worlds.

These works explore conceptions of the exotic, by playing on the parallels between wild and the tame, natural and artificial, interior and exterior, the familiar and the unknown. These work attempt to reconnect with the magic and romanticism of the Age of Discovery to fulfil the human desire to connect with nature and make visible what is out of sight.

This project was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts. It has been kindly supported by the Rosamond McCulloch Studio Residency and the University of Tasmania.

Work documentation by Jack Bett