Specimen Hierodula Majuscule, 2022

Oil on Canvas

75 x 100 cm

 

Specimen Attacus Atlas, 2022

Mixed Media-Oil on Canvas, Acrylic, Watercolour, Oil Pastels

103 x 153 cm

This work was developed on Peramangk Country

 

Location: DB7-05
 

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Specimen Attacus Atlas is a personal narrative informed by my developing knowledge of entomology. Of particular interest to me is the conjunction of realism and abstraction. Specimen Hierodula Majascule engages with Julia Kristeva’s concept of the abject through exploring insects that have been noted as monstrous or pervading due to how they appear visually. My current work seeks to explore the way realism can push into and through abstraction. The whole notion of the specimen is something that I explore continually within my work. This led to an increasing artistic interest in the science and biology discourse of process, mutation, and change. This artwork serves as a scientifically informative piece that narrates the erratic behaviour of a moth upon the stimulus of light. The artworks aims to visually disturb the viewer due to the large-scale rendering and hyper realistic quality having the impression of coming to life.  This hyper-realistic artwork reflects my curious nature of collecting natural specimens as inspiration. Predominantly working in oil paints, I find this medium allows for intense realism and details of scientific accuracy can be observed.