Assemblage – feather, bone, skin, driftwood, and mixed media.
180cm x 145cm x 45cm.
For sale at £12,500.
After several years of collecting materials on my travels and walks, and six months in my studio creating, The Wild Redeemer is born.
This piece aims to represent the whole cycle of life and death. The intention in my work is not to shy away from any aspects of this great cycle, but to celebrate and honour the whole, to see great beauty in death as well as in life. To be reborn, in any context, always requires a death first.
Here is the rebirth of this Buzzard, who died as road-kill, was given to a taxidermist, and then eventually came to me as reference material to help me create a computer model of a ‘generic eagle’ that would then help an American pharmaceutical company sell more drugs. At that time I was a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) Artist, working for advertising agencies in London. Those days are gladly behind me, but I promised this beautiful Buzzard that I would do my best to honour it and make good some of the commercial and manipulative use it was originally used for. I am now blessed to live in a forest where these birds soar high in the valley every day. I meet young Buzzards making their first attempts at flight, I watch their aerial manoeuvres, catching thermals above the giant Larch trees and occasionally swooping down into our garden. I am in awe of these beautiful Kings and Queens of the valley, and wanted this piece to convey the power and beauty of this creature, and of all the creatures of the forest. The deer hide, and some of the bones were a gift from our dog who is a natural hunter. Feathers come from many birds, most native, some found while travelling. There are seeds and roots of sacred plants from Africa, and driftwood from the river at the bottom of the valley. But let us also remember that many feather dusters and glitter-balls also sacrificed themselves for this piece!
This piece is also about my own path towards redemption. Close contact with Nature, and with some of the peoples of this planet who still hold deep knowledge of the mysteries within Nature, have been instrumental in me finding some inner peace and providing me with endless inspiration for my art. To me, the forest is our Mother Earth’s most beautiful and magical art gallery.
Re-purposed home decorations, wrapped in vines from the forest.
The Wild Redeemer being exhibited at Earthheart Centre in the Forest of Dean.
A buzzard with four legs and an armature of sheep jaws? With gemstones glittering in the power centre of its claws?
What magic is this?
The exquisite beauty within the feathers of the birds of this land. Baby blue and burnt orange of the female pheasant. A bird whose plumage is often mistaken as underwhelming reveals its beauty on close inspection.
This artwork is nothing more than the temporary suspension of decay that affects all life and all phenomena. With respect to the bones and skins of the dead, suspended for us to appreciate the beauty within life and death.
Peacock feathers, laid over polystyrene balls and crackle medium, sealed with a layer of clear resin.
