LEGACY OF THE DREAM. 1985. A depiction of the results of relentless consumerism, nationalism and the eternal growth seeking economy.
PATRIOTISM. 1987. A comment on the global effects of nationalistic impulses inspired by political and media hype over the America’s cup.
THE PHARAOH'S AIRSHIP. 1986. Artwork commissioned by “Omega” magazine for a short story by Sean McMullen appearing July 1986.
STORM. Sept 1983. Grassland reclaims the road of a long vanished human city.
PAIN. August 1987. Illustration commissioned in Sydney for the short lived “Illustrated Macquarie Dictionary”.
A MARTIAN ROMANCE. 1987. A gay romantic fantasy set on a terraformed Mars.
ECODEFENCE. May 1986. Illustration commissioned by “Simply Living” magazine for a report by Simon Balderstone appearing in Volume 2, Number 12.
FOREST WALK. 1987. The worlds of city and forest are one. The acceptance of our place within Nature - not separate from it - is complete. No more repressed feelings and no more need to conceal the evidence of our biological reality - nudity and intimacy are no causes for shame.
VENGEANCE.1983. A comment on the visible expressions of vengeance in human society - the prison system, shark killing, capital punishment, individual murder and war.
WHEN THE MIND IS THE FOCUS OF PROGRESS. April 1984. A Utopian fantasy inspired by Buddhism.
HAVE YOU LIVED BEFORE? 1984. Commissioned for an article by Heather Kennedy, appearing in "Omega" magazine, Nov 1984.
MOMENT BY MOMENT. 1989. A comment on an individual's relationship to the universe, as a solid observer Travelling through an ever changing landscape. Heartache is inevitable as we develop attachments to fleeting phenomena around us. This painting was inspired by my only drug experience (ecstasy) during an emotionally difficult period (my second close human relationship). If everyone took ecstasy just once & under medical supervision I'm confident the world would be a much better place.
WARHEAD. Dec 1985. Commissioned illustration for "Omega" magazine for a short story by Josie Flett appearing March 1986.
EARTH CONSCIOUS LIVING. Feb 1987. Another Utopian fantasy: a world where life is in accordance with the principles and ambitions of high civilisation, including vegetarianism, high technology (permitting detachment from the Earth allowing forests to reclaim much of the land surface), and advanced psychic development (meditation and levitation). (Destroyed - painted over, awaiting a new version).
THE UFO CONNECTION. Dec 1984. Illustration commissioned by “Omega” magazine for a report by Bill Chalker dealing with UFO sitings over NW Cape in Western Australia. It appeared in the March 1985 issue.
VILLAGE LIFE. c1989. A future city on the shores of Sydney harbour.
THE RETURN. 1989. Acrylic on illust. board, 67 x 51cm. A tongue in cheek tribute to classic SF movies and stars of the 1950's (esp "Forbidden Planet" and Joan Crawford.
EILENE CADDY'S VISION. 1987. Based on a vision described by Eilene Caddy - a dove carrrying light (peace) to the four corners of the Earth.
IS THE EARTH DYING? 1986. Illustration commissioned by "Simply Living" magazine for a report on the Ozone Hole by Richard Jones appearing in issue 13, vol 2. SOLD (Arrowtown - to an American buyer).
THE GREENING OF SYDNEY.1990. The ultimate act of environmental respect: a civilisation so technologically advanced it sources all its material needs from lifeless asteroids and allowes the Earth to return to its wild state.
SATURN LUNAR BASE . Triptych. 1990. Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200cm. A mining colony on a lifeless moon of Saturn - same theme as expressed in "The Greening of Sydney". Painting commissioned by a woman with a great enthusiasm for Saturn.
SATURN RISING. October 1990. Commissioned painting. A floating city, complete with agricultural domes, high above a moon of Saturn.
THE MOONS OF SATURN. 1991. Private commission based on an earlier illustration by me for “Omega” Magazine.
THE MAN AND HIS DREAMS. 1992. A comment on aging and unattainable fantasies .... a man trapped in a withering body, stuck in an overcrowded and polluted city, fantasizes about a better place & lost youth.
WAKATIPU DREAMS. 1993. In a landscape inspired by the Lake Wakatipu region of NZ a new civilisation has arisen following the self destruction of the present global system. The world population is small and stable - less than 10 million. There are no cities. People live in self contained villages centred around airport towers that suppport vertical parking spaces for publicly shared anti-gravity vehicles. Agricultural domes provide a year round plant based food supply, other large structures contain learning facilities, meeting places and spaces for musical performances. The social infrastructure is largely automated with non-sentient machines doing all undesirable labour, including their own creation and maintenance. This removes the need for a system of monetary reward, together with all the economic theories and bureaucratic nightmares that go with it. Raw materials for industry are all sourced off world from lifeless planets and asteroids. Humans are free to design, play, create, learn and explore, the only limitations on personal behaviour being the foundation principles of high civilisation, most notably the principles of cooperation and non-violence. Social cohesion, locally and globally, is assured by a sophoisticated communications network, various gatherings, education, and complete freedom of movement - planet wide and interstellar.
IN MAN'S IMAGE .... ALMOST. August 1994. The next evolutionary step? Here is depicted one version of a sentient, non-biological life form, created by us to inherit our consciousness and our best dreams, free of all the sour points of biological reality - the cruel, heartless savagery of nature that we participate in to feed ourselves, as well as disease, aging, weakness, fragility, gender, and the sexual urges that lead us to much frustration, aggression, and wasted energy.
NEW WORLD ORDER. 1996. An exaggerated projection of current trends towards the breakdown of society into an increasing number of ever more pettily defined groups. The world portrayed is made up of hundreds of tiny countries, each representing an extremely narrowly defined set of tolerances and separated from the rest by high walls, armed guards and barbed wire to prevent all out global conflict. This is a world where the most trivial difference is literally a barrier to communication. It is the ultimate example of non-cooperation - a mind numbing, totally irrational, and plain silly multiplicity of languages, scales of measurement, and systems of very seriously held beliefs.
Behind the satirical image is a personally depressing observation: the grand dream of global unity is being lost as humanity takes a giant leap backwards, focussing ever more intently on tribal roots and so reinforcing old divisions as well as creating new ones. In terms of values, beliefs and goals we are an extremely diverse species. Combine this with our desperate need as individuals for supportive companionship, identity, and purpose, it is perhaps hopelessly unrealistic to expect us to ever attain global unity. Perhaps “New World Order” is our best chance for happiness - the gathering of very similar minds in comforting, self sufficient groups. But what of our universal abhorrence of confinement, and the inevitable expansionist desires of some groups - how long would the walls keep us apart?!
Our near future looks bleak, but there is hope through evolution. Perhaps we can change ourselves into something better, and that is a subject being explored in other artwork.
THE CONTENTED MAN (LA VIRO KONTENTA). Dec 1995. The human, and perhaps especially male, desire to dominate, to control, and to possess are here given expression in the landscape - everything clipped, caged, confined.
Most paintings from 1995 on are given a title in the international language, Esperanto, as a gesture towards the spirit of global unity and reason. Here, it is also used within the painting - “Regi” means “to control”.
PRAISE BE TO THE FREE MARKET. December 1995. The marriage of unchecked capitalism and pluralistic democracy. Populism, Hedonism, and Greed are the guiding principles of this society, tokenistic nationalism is the binding agent. Values and standards are superficial and fickle, the product of market appeal, not philosophy and science. Perhaps this is the inevitable style of civilisation for a species as individualistic and diversely opinionated as humanity. Attempts to establish firm standards, values and goals for society will greatly please some but seriously offend many more and bring on accusations of totalitarianism if enforced. All such attempts through history have failed, usually violently. Separatism is another option - as in the painting “New World Order”. Let everyone seek out the 0.0000001 %, or thereabouts, of the global population sufficiently like minded to blissfully live and work with, then organize themselves into an independent nation. Trouble is, even if the issues of territory and resources could be sorted out to accommodate these hundreds of little tribes, the future would see xenophobia flourish, progress stifled, and eventually some group with expansionist fantasies would initiate conflict.
The society here has long given up any idea of imposing values or changing humanity according to some lofty ideal. It accepts and rewards raw human nature: greed, selfishness, vanity, competitiveness, an inability to agree on anything. The result is perceived individual liberty and a visual chaos of styles - in vehicles, fashions, architecture, and language (Maori/English, Metric/Imperial). Call it “colourful”, or an ugly, sad comment on the state of humanity, according to your point of view.
BICULTURAL TERMINUS (DUKULTURA FINSTACIO). October 1996. The myth of biculturalism ends when people start taking their ethnicity seriously and demand genuine, equal recognition for their culture. Colourful images of ethnic art, dress, cuisine, mythology, and music enriching the fabric of society has been the sales pitch for biculturalism and multiculturalism. But there is more darkness than colour in promoting ethnic awareness - in resurrecting ancient tribal identities and accentuating superficial differences. For “culture” means far more than decorative arts and crafts. It also embraces language (one of the most divisive forces in the world scene), education, law, and government. So when people get serious about their cultural heritage they demand the right to use their own language and to practise their own systems of education, government, and law. In effect, they demand their own nation, for that is what “culture” really means.
Signing this painting in Esperanto, one of the few great symbols of global cooperation, provides a particularly strong expression of my personal wish for a future where people stand with positive confidence as unique individuals rather than dark embodiments of insecurity scurrying for the protective shield of some loud and inevitably aggressive power seeking group.
My ideal future is a time when fully sentient beings embrace positive change, evolution, and rational thinking, while letting go of the past and broadening their allegiance far beyond family, tribal, racial, national, or other parochial group boundaries to encompass at least our whole species, and preferably more: the essence of life itself.
GREEN TURNING RED: BIOFACISM ON THE RISE (VERDO IĜANTA RUĜO: BIOFAŜIMO KRESKANTA). Oct 1997. How far are we prepared to go in pursuit of a historically and nationalistically “pure” landscape? How much death, destruction and suffering are we willing to inflict to fight change, to interfere with the timeless processes of natural selection? How long before passions expand from turning the wilderness into an ideologial killing field to eliminating fellow humans who oppose this view? Humanity has a long history of bloody, passionate dedication to extreme causes marked by religious fervour and very disturbing brands of morality (like “pro-life” anti-abortion crusaders murdering doctors!).
Certainly the aggressive conservation movement is not motivated by respect for life. Its view of the universe is a blend of academic, aesthetic, and nationalistic values. Its power in the world today is a result of its being able to convince national leaders that the preservation of certain species and certain landscapes is critical to the cultivation of a strong national identity (which in turn secures the power base for the politicians). Nothing stirs human passions so much as a display of flag waving!
The government, botanists, the media, and environmental zealots are now all pushing the same line: “exotics” are at best “politically incorrect” relics of colonialist values, and at worst an evil threat to the precious “native” ecological balance of the country. We are asked to believe that a global environment that has thrived for hundreds of millions of years in the face of asteroid impacts, volcanic upheavels , continental collisions and vast species movements now suddenly needs our paternalistic, expensive, clumsy and brutal intervention to survive.
Botanists and other academics who should know better are being so carried away by this dark and dangerous agenda that they forget the revelations of their own science. Nature is a force of change and evolution. In its realm there are no “good” or “bad” species, no “pests” or “weeds”. The right for anything to exist anywhere is determined simply by its capacity to survive and reproduce, and has nothing to do with rarity, “cuteness”, arrival date, usefulness to us, or potential for nationalistic idolotry. In Nature there are no legally binding borders. Species have always moved about as opportunities arose. Be that courtesy of wind, land bridges, ocean currents, birds or human hand, all means are “natural” and all will have the same effect: established ecosystems will be challenged by the new arrivals. If the new arrivals are better adapted to the local environment they may drive some of the earlier inhabitants to extinction. It’s not nice, but it’s the process by which all species alive today have acquired their current positions in the world. So while it is true that cats, rats, possums and so on are pushing some birds in New Zealand to extinction, it’s also true that those endangered birds were themselves once new arrivals that displaced earlier species.
There is much talk of “bio-diversity” but no appreciation that this has fluctuated wildly over time or that species “invasions” often increase that diversity on a local basis, and eventually in global terms as the “exotics” adapt and evolve into “native” variations of their earlier forms.
When we interfere in the struggles between wild species we are making selfish and callous judgements about the relative value of those species. We too readily assume the role of Master Predator in defence of “Mother Nature”, but all we really achieve is to darken our souls and offer the universe yet another example of the cruel, destructive arrogance that has always paved our quest to dominate the world and everything upon it.
If we honestly care about the welfare of this planet and the rights of other species we must adhere to ideals of compassion and non-interference. We must reduce our own numbers through birth control, guard against pollution, shift mining and industry into space or onto lifeless worlds, and minimize our exploitation of other species in line with an active respect for all higher life forms. Above all it demands a change of attitude: accepting our place within Nature rather than as a divine authority over it. This means we have to respect the right of other species to exist independently of us and provide them with sufficient space (true wilderness areas) to do so, free of any interference by us, free to live or to die entirely by their own efforts.
May we all simply learn to “live and let live”.
Text on the sign:-
WARNING.
THIS REGION IS BEING DECOLONIZED BY THE DIVINELY SANCTIONED AOTEAROA PURIFICATION FRONT.
“NATIVES ARE GIFTS OF GOD. EXOTICS ARE PAWNS OF THE DEVIL”.
ALL FOREIGN* INVADERS MUST BE EXTERMINATED!
*FOREIGN = ALL LIFE FORMS INTRODUCED TO THE LOCAL BIOREGION SINCE THE YEAR 1769. EXEMPTION - REGISTERED MEMBERS OF OUR MOST RIGHTEOUS, JUST AND GLORIOUS AOTEAROA PURIFICATION FRONT - SHOW YOUR A.P.F BAPTISMAL TATTOO ON DEMAND.
THIS ORDER HAS BEEN COUNTERSIGNED BY THE SACRED MINISTRIES OF BIO-CLEANSING AND CULTURAL SAFETY TOGETHER WITH THE NATIONAL IDENTITY PROTECTION AGENCY.
SPECIAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT GRATEFULLY RECEIVED FROM THE EAST EUROPEAN FUND FOR THE PROMOTION OF ETHNIC PURITY.
LIBERATION (LIBERADO). 22 August 1998 (63/3/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 1310 x 892mm. A painting inspired by Michaelangelo’s “Dying Slave”.
How might we re-shape ourselves when we have the knowledge and technology to do so? Depicted here is a being who conforms to the ethical ideals of those who long before chose the path of evolving beyond violence. This life form represents liberation from the tyranny of our relatively primitive physical condition. Specifically, it is free from:
- Gender and sexuality. What may have functioned satisfactorily for simple apes terrorizing the plains and forests of southern Africa today more often frustrates and destroys us. With our more complicated minds and heightened sense of individuality, pair bonding is difficult bordering on impossible. Yet the ancient hormones give us no peace, and as they are blocked or re-routed they contribute to all manner of neuroses, futile obsessions, and horrific violence, including warfare.
Removing sexuality permits emotional independence, and that removes a big part of the basis for the passionate urge many humans feel to manipulate and dominate others.
- Aging and disease. The new form has been created with a perfect immune system and the capacity for self repair, allowing them to be potentially immortal. No more of the terrible, sad, and undignified suffering that accompanies physical and mental decay.
- Hereditary tragedies. Sexual reproduction is a lottery that blesses very few while scarring the rest of us with troubles ranging from imperfect physical proportions to mental retardation and immobility. The new form is a product of conscious, knowledgeable design and so is free of the imperfections that weaken or cripple.
- The brute savagery of the biological food chain (glimpsed in this painting with the imminent death of a rabbit). The new form is sustained by water, air, sunlight and inorganic minerals - and protected by the servant sphere.
- Ignorance and superstition. Human history is full of horror stories - murder, genocide, warfare, torture, self mutilation and other insane acts - perpetrated in the name of passionate delusions masquerading as cults or religions. People too willing to follow, too desperate to belong, too eager to believe in the irrational and unprovable. Blind faith is a deadly sin, not a virtue. The new form has been engineered for maximum consciousness and intellect - no trouble for them to distinguish between fact and fantasy.
- Government. Stifling bureaucracy, minority rights oppressed by majority values, corruption... the inevitable nature of government, especially when dealing with large populations. In the world depicted by this painting “society” has become a very sparsely populated network of independent sentient beings served by machines. No need for government. In time these beings will disperse throughout the universe, lone wanderers in search of truth and understanding on an intergalactic scale.
The Earth has also been liberated - from our burdonsome numbers and control freak ambitions. It has reverted to a wild state. Our successors are inclined to be passive observers, no longer the predatory manipulators in love with the idea of being feared by every other living organism on the planet. They refrain from taking sides in the life struggles around them - they know better than to assume the right to judge the relative value of other life forms.
Symbolizing the liberation of life are magpies, a mouse, a possum, geese, and pine trees - some of the life forms labelled “pests” and “weeds” in New Zealand because they challenge human control and perceptions of environmental “purity”.
NECROPHILIA IN THE ‘90’s (NEKROFILIO EN LA ‘90’s). 7 July 1998 (17/2/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 760 x 615mm. The unquestioning love of the past, the traditional, the dead and buried, and the obsolete. Very human, but nothing to be proud of, it’s an expression of the irrational thinking patterns and enslavement to primitive emotionalism that not only impedes our evolution but threatens our existence. The 3 issues selected for this painting are linked by this together with the most deadly of all ego-tripping fantasies - nationalism.
Aggressive paternalistic eco-manipulation is the style of the modern conservation movement. Its values are largely the same as those which created the current threat to the global environment (see also the paintings “Sunset on Canterbury” and “Green turning Red: Biofacism on the Rise”). A positive alternative is to adopt a more broad-minded view of “Nature” combined with an acceptance of evolutionary reality and a respect for life according to the principle “live and let live”.
The Imperial System of Measurement has of course been “officially” replaced by the Metric System - one of the most intelligent concepts to emerge from the human brain. Unfortunately the original vision of this being the sole all-encompassing global standard has been sabotaged by the people and values depicted.
Tribalism is a legacy of our ancient past, a reservoir of lies, delusions, ignorance and superstitions that should have no place in this modern age. It unites a group of people by fabricating a sense of difference and competition relative to other groups. The truth we need to accept is that we are all unique individuals, often as different from other people as separate species. The thread of connection between us is the same essence which links us to all living organisms. Within humanity there is the opportunity to conmunicate and cooperate, but to be positive it must be universal and this requires greater emotional self sufficiency combined with cooperative values (like honesty and open-ness) and respect for the rights and independence of all living beings - not just a select few.
The importance of emotional independence is not exaggerated. The most dangerous people in the world are the desperately “needy” emotional weaklings who crave group support and spend their whole lives working to manipulate and control as many people as possible to achieve this end.
(Additional related paintings , the “Apartheid NZ” series and “Bicultural Terminus”).
Tombstone lettering:-
IN MEMORY OF AGGRESSIVE PATERNALISTIC ECO-MANIPULATORS.
A LATE 20TH CENTURY MOVEMENT ARISING FROM THE DARK SHADOWS OF AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY GREEN FACADE. ITS VALUES ARE THE PRODUCT OF A QUARTET OF HUMAN NEUROSES: XENOPHOBIA, A TRIBALISTIC IDENTITY CRISIS, FEAR OF CHANGE, AND A DESPERATE NEED FOR CONTROL, PART OF ITS FOCUS IS A FAR FROM NATURAL LUST FOR THE DEAD AND BURIED PAST, AND THIS IS ITS CREED:-
THE WORLD IS A MUSEUM AND WE ARE ITS CURATORS. WE CLAIM OWNERSHIP AND RIGHT OF CONTROL OVER EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS WITHIN OUR SELF APPOINTED TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES. WE DECIDE WHAT BELONGS AND WHAT DOESN’T. THE VALUE OF OTHER LIVING THINGS IS DEFFINED BY US. WE HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LIFE THAT DOESN’T CONFORM TO OUR IDEOLOGICAL AND AESTHETIC STANDARDS OF HISTORIC AND NATIONALISTIC PURITY. ANY ACTION IS JUSTIFIED TO SERVE OUR DIVINELY SANCTIONED MISSION. LIES, BULLETS,TRAPS, POISON, CHAINSAWS, SABOTAGE - WE ENDORSE THEM ALL.
RESURRECTING THE PAST, CLEANSING THE PRESENT.
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
A CHAOTIC, UNWIELDY SYSTEM, SUPERSEDED BY METRICS IN THE 18TH C. AND INTERNATIONALLY OBSOLETE BY THE 1970’S, YET SOME REFUSE TO LET IT REST IN PEACE ... “IT’S PART OF OUR GOD GIVEN ANGLO CULTURAL HERITAGE SO SCREW THE SPIRIT OF GLOBAL COOPERATION AND GOOD SENSE, AND PRAISE BE TO:-
MILS, INCHES, FEET, YARDS, RODS, FURLONGS, STATUTE MILES, NAUTICAL MILES, LEAGUES, FATHOMS, ACRES, LINKS, CHAINS, BRITISH GALLONS, US GALLONS, GILLS, PINTS, QUARTS, PECKS, DRAMS, OUNCES, POUNDS, STONES, HUNDREDWIEGHTS, SHORT TONS, LONG TONS, LONG HUNDREDWEIGHTS, BUSHELLS, GRAINS, PENNYWEIGHTS, TROY OUNCES, TROY POUNDS, SCRUPLES, APOTHECARIES’ POUNDS, FLUID OUNCES, POINTS, QUIRES, PICAS, DOTS PER INCH, KNOTS, CORDS, LENGTHS, FAHRENHEIT, HANDS.
RESIST CHANGE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF TRIBALISM.
THE MENTALITY OF THE STONE AGE LIVES ON. WE MAY CALL OURSELVES “NATIONS” RATHER THAN “TRIBES”, BUT THE CHARACTER OF THE WORLD REMAINS THE SAME: A SPECIES PASSIONATELY DIVIDED BY THE LEAST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES - SURFACE DETAILS OF RACE AND BIRTHPLACE. SCIENCE AND RATIONAL THINKING HAVE INVALIDATED MUCH OF THE DIVISIVE REASONING BUT THE COMPETING POWER MONGERS OF TODAY, AS IN THE PAST, DON’T WANT US TO EMBRACE THE WHOLE WORLD IN THE SPIRIT OF UNITY AND COOPERATION - JUST THEIR PART OF IT.
SO LOOK BACK, BUT NOT FAR ENOUGH TO SEE YOUR TRUE ANCESTRY - THE COMMON ORIGIN OF ALL HUMANS. FOCUS ON YOUR HISTORICAL TRIBAL ROOTS. PROCLAIM THIS ETHNICITY TO THE WHOLE WORLD, LOUDLY, PROUDLY AND REPEATEDLY.
HONOUR YOUR TRIBE ABOVE ALL OTHERS. YOUR TRIBE IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS. FIGHT FOR IT, KILL FOR IT, DIE FOR IT. ANY EFFORT IN ITS NAME IS JUSTIFIED. NO ACT IN ITS DEFENCE CAN BE CONSIDERED TOO EXTREME. BETTER FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO DIE THAN FOR YOUR PEOPLE TO SUFFER A DEFEAT. GLORY BE TO THE A-BOMB.
ANY TRADITION UNIQUE TO YOUR TRIBE IS HOLY, BEAUTIFUL, AND BEYOND QUESTION, NO MATTER HOW SILLY, PRIMITIVE OR VULGER IT MIGHT BE..
FORGET NOTHING - FORGIVE NOTHING.
FACADE. 4 Jan 1998 (14/1/-25), Acrylic on illustration board, 729 x 500mm. Violence and cruelty are basic to Nature. Most species seemingly have no option other than to participate. But we are different. We have reached a point in our evolution where we can choose to adopt a less violent, less destructive and more compassionate way of living - a path that could eventually elevate us beyond the primitive viciousness of Nature.
Yet most people don’t even acknowledge the desirability of striving for a gentler lifestyle. Instead they seek to justify, expand, and glamourize their most vulgar and brutal impulses. Violence between humans has escalated from savage tribal conflicts to genocide and the threat of global nuclear war. It should be cause for shame, but instead is considered suitable inspiration for childrens’ toys. It is also popularized by words such as “warrior” and as a dominant subject for much of our “entertainment”, from boxing matches to television dramas and futuristic cinematic fantasies.
Our aggression towards other species has graduated from being a survival necessity to become acts of “family fun”, “sport” and “male bonding” in the shape of hunting and fishing. Worse, in terms of scale, it has become institutionalised in the form of factory farms and slaughterhouses, while the products of the mass kill have been reshaped and disguised behind decorative packaging, slick marketing images and fashionable “culinary art” to encourage ignorance of the bloody origins.
This is not the way of high civilisation. Our grand cities, sometimes dazzling technology, and ego-flattering claims to sophistication are a mere facade behind which our brutish ancestry salivates and waits for the next opportunity to express itself.
None of us can be proud of who we are or where we’ve come from. The challenge is to acknowledge our lowly status and make a wholehearted effort to become something better in the future - to become truly civilized.
ARRIVAL (ALVENO). 17 May 1998 (50/2/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 1219 x 839mm. On an island bordering the great Southern Ocean a new form of sentient life has arrived to explore the ruins of a savage past. It was an age dominated by cruel descendents of carnivorous apes. They were known as humans, and thought themselves “civilized”, but too many of them were obsessed with oppressing and manipulating each other and everything else on this planet. Their breeding habits were clearly no more restrained than those of species they condemned as “pests”, and for a time there was a serious risk of their spreading beyond Earth to brutalize other worlds in their zealous pursuit of economic growth and psychopathic hedonism. But inevitably they fell victim to their own worst impulses and in a frenzy of blood lust and control freak values they self destructed, leaving the universe a safer place.
Now, on this spectacular autumn day, they are almost forgotten, and soon the maturing forest will absorb the little that remains. Trees that once fell victim to chain-saw attack by view hungry town dwellers, timber workers, firewood collectors and xenophobic conservationists are now reaching their noble potential and claiming a quiet life affirming victory over their former enemies. Witness the splendid specimen of Douglas fir taking over the Ministry of Bio-cleansing (formerly known as the Department of Conservation). Bravo wild Nature!
The visitor portrayed in this painting is a descendent of some gentler human types: people who acknowledged their deficiencies and made a genuine effort to improve themselves - to evolve beyond violence. Before the world degenerated into bloody chaos they quietly shifted to a remote mountain sanctuary and scaled the heights of knowledge, discovering the means to take positive control over their own evolution. The result was this new species - highly conscious, emotionally independent, disease resistant, asexual, self repairing, and potentially immortal, sustained by sunlight, water, air and inorganic minerals. Although they are cooperative and empathic beings, they tend to be solitary, and are served and protected by robotic helpers - the glowing spheres.
Having recently departed the mountain sanctuary they are travelling around the globe and preparing to settle where they please. Later they will reach for the stars, forever discovering new things and expanding their understanding of the essential foundation Truth of Life in the universe. But unlike the more primitive consciousness that preceded them they will be especially sensitive to all life wherever they go, respecting the independence and relative equality of other species and causing the least possible harm. Technology and their own genetic make-up will ensure they have no need to exploit other living organisms for food and they’ll never be so numerous as to push other species to premature extinction. That’s a big part of what it means to be truly civilized.
APARTHEID NEW ZEALAND STYLE No.1: OLD GHOSTS FIND NEW EXPRESSION. 13 March 1998 (82/1/-25) Acrylic on illustration board, 546 x 374mm. This painting is intended to raise awareness of a new version of apartheid that is being paraded under the cloak of “political correctness”. Talk about “white” schools, “white” law, or a “white” electoral roll and the reponse will be anything but sympathetic. Yet the Maori form of these in NZ is officially endorsed as if socially just.
It might be voluntary - the self proclaimed and highly vocal Maori leadership certainly approves of it and a lot more (calls for “sovereignty”), but the attitude at its heart is the age old spirit of racism. For it mean categorizing people and structuring social services according to an individual’s ancestry. And that involves stereotyping - making broad assumptions about individuals based on their skin colour.
Treating people as groups rather than individuals is plainly a convenience for the media, government, and lesser power mongers who seek to manipulate and control us for their own egotistical and economic gain. In NZ that last point may be seen as a specific reference to those who claim to be “leaders” of the Maori “community”. Forget “race” and “culture”, these are simply people out to enjoy a taste of power that would otherwise be more difficult to acquire amongst the competition of a larger group.
There is only one valid way to deal with or make judgements about other people: as the unique individuals we all are. Nothing is more irritating than having someone make decisions about your needs, your character, your strengths and weaknesses based on the ethnic group they’ve pigeonholed you into.
Sadly it’s a trap most of us can’t seem to escape - both as recipients and dealers. At the very time in history when the sense of global connectedness is starting to become real there is a powerful and violent movement to drag us back into the stone age - to preserve and enhance the values of tribalism. Anyone with self respect and a vision for future peace will reject it.
A MEASURED RESPONSE. 16 Oct 1994 Concept sketch, pencil on A4 paper. One of those terms commonly used in warfare inspired this image. Does all human competitiveness stem from the insecurites and obsessions males suffer relating to their genitals? How much of the world's misery is the result of males desperate to prove their "manhood"?
PATRIOTISM. 1987. A comment on the global effects of nationalistic impulses inspired by political and media hype over the America’s cup.
THE PHARAOH'S AIRSHIP. 1986. Artwork commissioned by “Omega” magazine for a short story by Sean McMullen appearing July 1986.
STORM. Sept 1983. Grassland reclaims the road of a long vanished human city.
PAIN. August 1987. Illustration commissioned in Sydney for the short lived “Illustrated Macquarie Dictionary”.
A MARTIAN ROMANCE. 1987. A gay romantic fantasy set on a terraformed Mars.
ECODEFENCE. May 1986. Illustration commissioned by “Simply Living” magazine for a report by Simon Balderstone appearing in Volume 2, Number 12.
FOREST WALK. 1987. The worlds of city and forest are one. The acceptance of our place within Nature - not separate from it - is complete. No more repressed feelings and no more need to conceal the evidence of our biological reality - nudity and intimacy are no causes for shame.
VENGEANCE.1983. A comment on the visible expressions of vengeance in human society - the prison system, shark killing, capital punishment, individual murder and war.
WHEN THE MIND IS THE FOCUS OF PROGRESS. April 1984. A Utopian fantasy inspired by Buddhism.
HAVE YOU LIVED BEFORE? 1984. Commissioned for an article by Heather Kennedy, appearing in "Omega" magazine, Nov 1984.
MOMENT BY MOMENT. 1989. A comment on an individual's relationship to the universe, as a solid observer Travelling through an ever changing landscape. Heartache is inevitable as we develop attachments to fleeting phenomena around us. This painting was inspired by my only drug experience (ecstasy) during an emotionally difficult period (my second close human relationship). If everyone took ecstasy just once & under medical supervision I'm confident the world would be a much better place.
WARHEAD. Dec 1985. Commissioned illustration for "Omega" magazine for a short story by Josie Flett appearing March 1986.
EARTH CONSCIOUS LIVING. Feb 1987. Another Utopian fantasy: a world where life is in accordance with the principles and ambitions of high civilisation, including vegetarianism, high technology (permitting detachment from the Earth allowing forests to reclaim much of the land surface), and advanced psychic development (meditation and levitation). (Destroyed - painted over, awaiting a new version).
THE UFO CONNECTION. Dec 1984. Illustration commissioned by “Omega” magazine for a report by Bill Chalker dealing with UFO sitings over NW Cape in Western Australia. It appeared in the March 1985 issue.
VILLAGE LIFE. c1989. A future city on the shores of Sydney harbour.
THE RETURN. 1989. Acrylic on illust. board, 67 x 51cm. A tongue in cheek tribute to classic SF movies and stars of the 1950's (esp "Forbidden Planet" and Joan Crawford.
EILENE CADDY'S VISION. 1987. Based on a vision described by Eilene Caddy - a dove carrrying light (peace) to the four corners of the Earth.
IS THE EARTH DYING? 1986. Illustration commissioned by "Simply Living" magazine for a report on the Ozone Hole by Richard Jones appearing in issue 13, vol 2. SOLD (Arrowtown - to an American buyer).
THE GREENING OF SYDNEY.1990. The ultimate act of environmental respect: a civilisation so technologically advanced it sources all its material needs from lifeless asteroids and allowes the Earth to return to its wild state.
SATURN LUNAR BASE . Triptych. 1990. Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200cm. A mining colony on a lifeless moon of Saturn - same theme as expressed in "The Greening of Sydney". Painting commissioned by a woman with a great enthusiasm for Saturn.
SATURN RISING. October 1990. Commissioned painting. A floating city, complete with agricultural domes, high above a moon of Saturn.
THE MOONS OF SATURN. 1991. Private commission based on an earlier illustration by me for “Omega” Magazine.
THE MAN AND HIS DREAMS. 1992. A comment on aging and unattainable fantasies .... a man trapped in a withering body, stuck in an overcrowded and polluted city, fantasizes about a better place & lost youth.
WAKATIPU DREAMS. 1993. In a landscape inspired by the Lake Wakatipu region of NZ a new civilisation has arisen following the self destruction of the present global system. The world population is small and stable - less than 10 million. There are no cities. People live in self contained villages centred around airport towers that suppport vertical parking spaces for publicly shared anti-gravity vehicles. Agricultural domes provide a year round plant based food supply, other large structures contain learning facilities, meeting places and spaces for musical performances. The social infrastructure is largely automated with non-sentient machines doing all undesirable labour, including their own creation and maintenance. This removes the need for a system of monetary reward, together with all the economic theories and bureaucratic nightmares that go with it. Raw materials for industry are all sourced off world from lifeless planets and asteroids. Humans are free to design, play, create, learn and explore, the only limitations on personal behaviour being the foundation principles of high civilisation, most notably the principles of cooperation and non-violence. Social cohesion, locally and globally, is assured by a sophoisticated communications network, various gatherings, education, and complete freedom of movement - planet wide and interstellar.
IN MAN'S IMAGE .... ALMOST. August 1994. The next evolutionary step? Here is depicted one version of a sentient, non-biological life form, created by us to inherit our consciousness and our best dreams, free of all the sour points of biological reality - the cruel, heartless savagery of nature that we participate in to feed ourselves, as well as disease, aging, weakness, fragility, gender, and the sexual urges that lead us to much frustration, aggression, and wasted energy.
NEW WORLD ORDER. 1996. An exaggerated projection of current trends towards the breakdown of society into an increasing number of ever more pettily defined groups. The world portrayed is made up of hundreds of tiny countries, each representing an extremely narrowly defined set of tolerances and separated from the rest by high walls, armed guards and barbed wire to prevent all out global conflict. This is a world where the most trivial difference is literally a barrier to communication. It is the ultimate example of non-cooperation - a mind numbing, totally irrational, and plain silly multiplicity of languages, scales of measurement, and systems of very seriously held beliefs.
Behind the satirical image is a personally depressing observation: the grand dream of global unity is being lost as humanity takes a giant leap backwards, focussing ever more intently on tribal roots and so reinforcing old divisions as well as creating new ones. In terms of values, beliefs and goals we are an extremely diverse species. Combine this with our desperate need as individuals for supportive companionship, identity, and purpose, it is perhaps hopelessly unrealistic to expect us to ever attain global unity. Perhaps “New World Order” is our best chance for happiness - the gathering of very similar minds in comforting, self sufficient groups. But what of our universal abhorrence of confinement, and the inevitable expansionist desires of some groups - how long would the walls keep us apart?!
Our near future looks bleak, but there is hope through evolution. Perhaps we can change ourselves into something better, and that is a subject being explored in other artwork.
THE CONTENTED MAN (LA VIRO KONTENTA). Dec 1995. The human, and perhaps especially male, desire to dominate, to control, and to possess are here given expression in the landscape - everything clipped, caged, confined.
Most paintings from 1995 on are given a title in the international language, Esperanto, as a gesture towards the spirit of global unity and reason. Here, it is also used within the painting - “Regi” means “to control”.
PRAISE BE TO THE FREE MARKET. December 1995. The marriage of unchecked capitalism and pluralistic democracy. Populism, Hedonism, and Greed are the guiding principles of this society, tokenistic nationalism is the binding agent. Values and standards are superficial and fickle, the product of market appeal, not philosophy and science. Perhaps this is the inevitable style of civilisation for a species as individualistic and diversely opinionated as humanity. Attempts to establish firm standards, values and goals for society will greatly please some but seriously offend many more and bring on accusations of totalitarianism if enforced. All such attempts through history have failed, usually violently. Separatism is another option - as in the painting “New World Order”. Let everyone seek out the 0.0000001 %, or thereabouts, of the global population sufficiently like minded to blissfully live and work with, then organize themselves into an independent nation. Trouble is, even if the issues of territory and resources could be sorted out to accommodate these hundreds of little tribes, the future would see xenophobia flourish, progress stifled, and eventually some group with expansionist fantasies would initiate conflict.
The society here has long given up any idea of imposing values or changing humanity according to some lofty ideal. It accepts and rewards raw human nature: greed, selfishness, vanity, competitiveness, an inability to agree on anything. The result is perceived individual liberty and a visual chaos of styles - in vehicles, fashions, architecture, and language (Maori/English, Metric/Imperial). Call it “colourful”, or an ugly, sad comment on the state of humanity, according to your point of view.
BICULTURAL TERMINUS (DUKULTURA FINSTACIO). October 1996. The myth of biculturalism ends when people start taking their ethnicity seriously and demand genuine, equal recognition for their culture. Colourful images of ethnic art, dress, cuisine, mythology, and music enriching the fabric of society has been the sales pitch for biculturalism and multiculturalism. But there is more darkness than colour in promoting ethnic awareness - in resurrecting ancient tribal identities and accentuating superficial differences. For “culture” means far more than decorative arts and crafts. It also embraces language (one of the most divisive forces in the world scene), education, law, and government. So when people get serious about their cultural heritage they demand the right to use their own language and to practise their own systems of education, government, and law. In effect, they demand their own nation, for that is what “culture” really means.
Signing this painting in Esperanto, one of the few great symbols of global cooperation, provides a particularly strong expression of my personal wish for a future where people stand with positive confidence as unique individuals rather than dark embodiments of insecurity scurrying for the protective shield of some loud and inevitably aggressive power seeking group.
My ideal future is a time when fully sentient beings embrace positive change, evolution, and rational thinking, while letting go of the past and broadening their allegiance far beyond family, tribal, racial, national, or other parochial group boundaries to encompass at least our whole species, and preferably more: the essence of life itself.
GREEN TURNING RED: BIOFACISM ON THE RISE (VERDO IĜANTA RUĜO: BIOFAŜIMO KRESKANTA). Oct 1997. How far are we prepared to go in pursuit of a historically and nationalistically “pure” landscape? How much death, destruction and suffering are we willing to inflict to fight change, to interfere with the timeless processes of natural selection? How long before passions expand from turning the wilderness into an ideologial killing field to eliminating fellow humans who oppose this view? Humanity has a long history of bloody, passionate dedication to extreme causes marked by religious fervour and very disturbing brands of morality (like “pro-life” anti-abortion crusaders murdering doctors!).
Certainly the aggressive conservation movement is not motivated by respect for life. Its view of the universe is a blend of academic, aesthetic, and nationalistic values. Its power in the world today is a result of its being able to convince national leaders that the preservation of certain species and certain landscapes is critical to the cultivation of a strong national identity (which in turn secures the power base for the politicians). Nothing stirs human passions so much as a display of flag waving!
The government, botanists, the media, and environmental zealots are now all pushing the same line: “exotics” are at best “politically incorrect” relics of colonialist values, and at worst an evil threat to the precious “native” ecological balance of the country. We are asked to believe that a global environment that has thrived for hundreds of millions of years in the face of asteroid impacts, volcanic upheavels , continental collisions and vast species movements now suddenly needs our paternalistic, expensive, clumsy and brutal intervention to survive.
Botanists and other academics who should know better are being so carried away by this dark and dangerous agenda that they forget the revelations of their own science. Nature is a force of change and evolution. In its realm there are no “good” or “bad” species, no “pests” or “weeds”. The right for anything to exist anywhere is determined simply by its capacity to survive and reproduce, and has nothing to do with rarity, “cuteness”, arrival date, usefulness to us, or potential for nationalistic idolotry. In Nature there are no legally binding borders. Species have always moved about as opportunities arose. Be that courtesy of wind, land bridges, ocean currents, birds or human hand, all means are “natural” and all will have the same effect: established ecosystems will be challenged by the new arrivals. If the new arrivals are better adapted to the local environment they may drive some of the earlier inhabitants to extinction. It’s not nice, but it’s the process by which all species alive today have acquired their current positions in the world. So while it is true that cats, rats, possums and so on are pushing some birds in New Zealand to extinction, it’s also true that those endangered birds were themselves once new arrivals that displaced earlier species.
There is much talk of “bio-diversity” but no appreciation that this has fluctuated wildly over time or that species “invasions” often increase that diversity on a local basis, and eventually in global terms as the “exotics” adapt and evolve into “native” variations of their earlier forms.
When we interfere in the struggles between wild species we are making selfish and callous judgements about the relative value of those species. We too readily assume the role of Master Predator in defence of “Mother Nature”, but all we really achieve is to darken our souls and offer the universe yet another example of the cruel, destructive arrogance that has always paved our quest to dominate the world and everything upon it.
If we honestly care about the welfare of this planet and the rights of other species we must adhere to ideals of compassion and non-interference. We must reduce our own numbers through birth control, guard against pollution, shift mining and industry into space or onto lifeless worlds, and minimize our exploitation of other species in line with an active respect for all higher life forms. Above all it demands a change of attitude: accepting our place within Nature rather than as a divine authority over it. This means we have to respect the right of other species to exist independently of us and provide them with sufficient space (true wilderness areas) to do so, free of any interference by us, free to live or to die entirely by their own efforts.
May we all simply learn to “live and let live”.
Text on the sign:-
WARNING.
THIS REGION IS BEING DECOLONIZED BY THE DIVINELY SANCTIONED AOTEAROA PURIFICATION FRONT.
“NATIVES ARE GIFTS OF GOD. EXOTICS ARE PAWNS OF THE DEVIL”.
ALL FOREIGN* INVADERS MUST BE EXTERMINATED!
*FOREIGN = ALL LIFE FORMS INTRODUCED TO THE LOCAL BIOREGION SINCE THE YEAR 1769. EXEMPTION - REGISTERED MEMBERS OF OUR MOST RIGHTEOUS, JUST AND GLORIOUS AOTEAROA PURIFICATION FRONT - SHOW YOUR A.P.F BAPTISMAL TATTOO ON DEMAND.
THIS ORDER HAS BEEN COUNTERSIGNED BY THE SACRED MINISTRIES OF BIO-CLEANSING AND CULTURAL SAFETY TOGETHER WITH THE NATIONAL IDENTITY PROTECTION AGENCY.
SPECIAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT GRATEFULLY RECEIVED FROM THE EAST EUROPEAN FUND FOR THE PROMOTION OF ETHNIC PURITY.
LIBERATION (LIBERADO). 22 August 1998 (63/3/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 1310 x 892mm. A painting inspired by Michaelangelo’s “Dying Slave”.
How might we re-shape ourselves when we have the knowledge and technology to do so? Depicted here is a being who conforms to the ethical ideals of those who long before chose the path of evolving beyond violence. This life form represents liberation from the tyranny of our relatively primitive physical condition. Specifically, it is free from:
- Gender and sexuality. What may have functioned satisfactorily for simple apes terrorizing the plains and forests of southern Africa today more often frustrates and destroys us. With our more complicated minds and heightened sense of individuality, pair bonding is difficult bordering on impossible. Yet the ancient hormones give us no peace, and as they are blocked or re-routed they contribute to all manner of neuroses, futile obsessions, and horrific violence, including warfare.
Removing sexuality permits emotional independence, and that removes a big part of the basis for the passionate urge many humans feel to manipulate and dominate others.
- Aging and disease. The new form has been created with a perfect immune system and the capacity for self repair, allowing them to be potentially immortal. No more of the terrible, sad, and undignified suffering that accompanies physical and mental decay.
- Hereditary tragedies. Sexual reproduction is a lottery that blesses very few while scarring the rest of us with troubles ranging from imperfect physical proportions to mental retardation and immobility. The new form is a product of conscious, knowledgeable design and so is free of the imperfections that weaken or cripple.
- The brute savagery of the biological food chain (glimpsed in this painting with the imminent death of a rabbit). The new form is sustained by water, air, sunlight and inorganic minerals - and protected by the servant sphere.
- Ignorance and superstition. Human history is full of horror stories - murder, genocide, warfare, torture, self mutilation and other insane acts - perpetrated in the name of passionate delusions masquerading as cults or religions. People too willing to follow, too desperate to belong, too eager to believe in the irrational and unprovable. Blind faith is a deadly sin, not a virtue. The new form has been engineered for maximum consciousness and intellect - no trouble for them to distinguish between fact and fantasy.
- Government. Stifling bureaucracy, minority rights oppressed by majority values, corruption... the inevitable nature of government, especially when dealing with large populations. In the world depicted by this painting “society” has become a very sparsely populated network of independent sentient beings served by machines. No need for government. In time these beings will disperse throughout the universe, lone wanderers in search of truth and understanding on an intergalactic scale.
The Earth has also been liberated - from our burdonsome numbers and control freak ambitions. It has reverted to a wild state. Our successors are inclined to be passive observers, no longer the predatory manipulators in love with the idea of being feared by every other living organism on the planet. They refrain from taking sides in the life struggles around them - they know better than to assume the right to judge the relative value of other life forms.
Symbolizing the liberation of life are magpies, a mouse, a possum, geese, and pine trees - some of the life forms labelled “pests” and “weeds” in New Zealand because they challenge human control and perceptions of environmental “purity”.
NECROPHILIA IN THE ‘90’s (NEKROFILIO EN LA ‘90’s). 7 July 1998 (17/2/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 760 x 615mm. The unquestioning love of the past, the traditional, the dead and buried, and the obsolete. Very human, but nothing to be proud of, it’s an expression of the irrational thinking patterns and enslavement to primitive emotionalism that not only impedes our evolution but threatens our existence. The 3 issues selected for this painting are linked by this together with the most deadly of all ego-tripping fantasies - nationalism.
Aggressive paternalistic eco-manipulation is the style of the modern conservation movement. Its values are largely the same as those which created the current threat to the global environment (see also the paintings “Sunset on Canterbury” and “Green turning Red: Biofacism on the Rise”). A positive alternative is to adopt a more broad-minded view of “Nature” combined with an acceptance of evolutionary reality and a respect for life according to the principle “live and let live”.
The Imperial System of Measurement has of course been “officially” replaced by the Metric System - one of the most intelligent concepts to emerge from the human brain. Unfortunately the original vision of this being the sole all-encompassing global standard has been sabotaged by the people and values depicted.
Tribalism is a legacy of our ancient past, a reservoir of lies, delusions, ignorance and superstitions that should have no place in this modern age. It unites a group of people by fabricating a sense of difference and competition relative to other groups. The truth we need to accept is that we are all unique individuals, often as different from other people as separate species. The thread of connection between us is the same essence which links us to all living organisms. Within humanity there is the opportunity to conmunicate and cooperate, but to be positive it must be universal and this requires greater emotional self sufficiency combined with cooperative values (like honesty and open-ness) and respect for the rights and independence of all living beings - not just a select few.
The importance of emotional independence is not exaggerated. The most dangerous people in the world are the desperately “needy” emotional weaklings who crave group support and spend their whole lives working to manipulate and control as many people as possible to achieve this end.
(Additional related paintings , the “Apartheid NZ” series and “Bicultural Terminus”).
Tombstone lettering:-
IN MEMORY OF AGGRESSIVE PATERNALISTIC ECO-MANIPULATORS.
A LATE 20TH CENTURY MOVEMENT ARISING FROM THE DARK SHADOWS OF AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY GREEN FACADE. ITS VALUES ARE THE PRODUCT OF A QUARTET OF HUMAN NEUROSES: XENOPHOBIA, A TRIBALISTIC IDENTITY CRISIS, FEAR OF CHANGE, AND A DESPERATE NEED FOR CONTROL, PART OF ITS FOCUS IS A FAR FROM NATURAL LUST FOR THE DEAD AND BURIED PAST, AND THIS IS ITS CREED:-
THE WORLD IS A MUSEUM AND WE ARE ITS CURATORS. WE CLAIM OWNERSHIP AND RIGHT OF CONTROL OVER EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS WITHIN OUR SELF APPOINTED TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES. WE DECIDE WHAT BELONGS AND WHAT DOESN’T. THE VALUE OF OTHER LIVING THINGS IS DEFFINED BY US. WE HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LIFE THAT DOESN’T CONFORM TO OUR IDEOLOGICAL AND AESTHETIC STANDARDS OF HISTORIC AND NATIONALISTIC PURITY. ANY ACTION IS JUSTIFIED TO SERVE OUR DIVINELY SANCTIONED MISSION. LIES, BULLETS,TRAPS, POISON, CHAINSAWS, SABOTAGE - WE ENDORSE THEM ALL.
RESURRECTING THE PAST, CLEANSING THE PRESENT.
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
A CHAOTIC, UNWIELDY SYSTEM, SUPERSEDED BY METRICS IN THE 18TH C. AND INTERNATIONALLY OBSOLETE BY THE 1970’S, YET SOME REFUSE TO LET IT REST IN PEACE ... “IT’S PART OF OUR GOD GIVEN ANGLO CULTURAL HERITAGE SO SCREW THE SPIRIT OF GLOBAL COOPERATION AND GOOD SENSE, AND PRAISE BE TO:-
MILS, INCHES, FEET, YARDS, RODS, FURLONGS, STATUTE MILES, NAUTICAL MILES, LEAGUES, FATHOMS, ACRES, LINKS, CHAINS, BRITISH GALLONS, US GALLONS, GILLS, PINTS, QUARTS, PECKS, DRAMS, OUNCES, POUNDS, STONES, HUNDREDWIEGHTS, SHORT TONS, LONG TONS, LONG HUNDREDWEIGHTS, BUSHELLS, GRAINS, PENNYWEIGHTS, TROY OUNCES, TROY POUNDS, SCRUPLES, APOTHECARIES’ POUNDS, FLUID OUNCES, POINTS, QUIRES, PICAS, DOTS PER INCH, KNOTS, CORDS, LENGTHS, FAHRENHEIT, HANDS.
RESIST CHANGE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF TRIBALISM.
THE MENTALITY OF THE STONE AGE LIVES ON. WE MAY CALL OURSELVES “NATIONS” RATHER THAN “TRIBES”, BUT THE CHARACTER OF THE WORLD REMAINS THE SAME: A SPECIES PASSIONATELY DIVIDED BY THE LEAST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES - SURFACE DETAILS OF RACE AND BIRTHPLACE. SCIENCE AND RATIONAL THINKING HAVE INVALIDATED MUCH OF THE DIVISIVE REASONING BUT THE COMPETING POWER MONGERS OF TODAY, AS IN THE PAST, DON’T WANT US TO EMBRACE THE WHOLE WORLD IN THE SPIRIT OF UNITY AND COOPERATION - JUST THEIR PART OF IT.
SO LOOK BACK, BUT NOT FAR ENOUGH TO SEE YOUR TRUE ANCESTRY - THE COMMON ORIGIN OF ALL HUMANS. FOCUS ON YOUR HISTORICAL TRIBAL ROOTS. PROCLAIM THIS ETHNICITY TO THE WHOLE WORLD, LOUDLY, PROUDLY AND REPEATEDLY.
HONOUR YOUR TRIBE ABOVE ALL OTHERS. YOUR TRIBE IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS. FIGHT FOR IT, KILL FOR IT, DIE FOR IT. ANY EFFORT IN ITS NAME IS JUSTIFIED. NO ACT IN ITS DEFENCE CAN BE CONSIDERED TOO EXTREME. BETTER FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO DIE THAN FOR YOUR PEOPLE TO SUFFER A DEFEAT. GLORY BE TO THE A-BOMB.
ANY TRADITION UNIQUE TO YOUR TRIBE IS HOLY, BEAUTIFUL, AND BEYOND QUESTION, NO MATTER HOW SILLY, PRIMITIVE OR VULGER IT MIGHT BE..
FORGET NOTHING - FORGIVE NOTHING.
FACADE. 4 Jan 1998 (14/1/-25), Acrylic on illustration board, 729 x 500mm. Violence and cruelty are basic to Nature. Most species seemingly have no option other than to participate. But we are different. We have reached a point in our evolution where we can choose to adopt a less violent, less destructive and more compassionate way of living - a path that could eventually elevate us beyond the primitive viciousness of Nature.
Yet most people don’t even acknowledge the desirability of striving for a gentler lifestyle. Instead they seek to justify, expand, and glamourize their most vulgar and brutal impulses. Violence between humans has escalated from savage tribal conflicts to genocide and the threat of global nuclear war. It should be cause for shame, but instead is considered suitable inspiration for childrens’ toys. It is also popularized by words such as “warrior” and as a dominant subject for much of our “entertainment”, from boxing matches to television dramas and futuristic cinematic fantasies.
Our aggression towards other species has graduated from being a survival necessity to become acts of “family fun”, “sport” and “male bonding” in the shape of hunting and fishing. Worse, in terms of scale, it has become institutionalised in the form of factory farms and slaughterhouses, while the products of the mass kill have been reshaped and disguised behind decorative packaging, slick marketing images and fashionable “culinary art” to encourage ignorance of the bloody origins.
This is not the way of high civilisation. Our grand cities, sometimes dazzling technology, and ego-flattering claims to sophistication are a mere facade behind which our brutish ancestry salivates and waits for the next opportunity to express itself.
None of us can be proud of who we are or where we’ve come from. The challenge is to acknowledge our lowly status and make a wholehearted effort to become something better in the future - to become truly civilized.
ARRIVAL (ALVENO). 17 May 1998 (50/2/-25) Acrylic on canvas, 1219 x 839mm. On an island bordering the great Southern Ocean a new form of sentient life has arrived to explore the ruins of a savage past. It was an age dominated by cruel descendents of carnivorous apes. They were known as humans, and thought themselves “civilized”, but too many of them were obsessed with oppressing and manipulating each other and everything else on this planet. Their breeding habits were clearly no more restrained than those of species they condemned as “pests”, and for a time there was a serious risk of their spreading beyond Earth to brutalize other worlds in their zealous pursuit of economic growth and psychopathic hedonism. But inevitably they fell victim to their own worst impulses and in a frenzy of blood lust and control freak values they self destructed, leaving the universe a safer place.
Now, on this spectacular autumn day, they are almost forgotten, and soon the maturing forest will absorb the little that remains. Trees that once fell victim to chain-saw attack by view hungry town dwellers, timber workers, firewood collectors and xenophobic conservationists are now reaching their noble potential and claiming a quiet life affirming victory over their former enemies. Witness the splendid specimen of Douglas fir taking over the Ministry of Bio-cleansing (formerly known as the Department of Conservation). Bravo wild Nature!
The visitor portrayed in this painting is a descendent of some gentler human types: people who acknowledged their deficiencies and made a genuine effort to improve themselves - to evolve beyond violence. Before the world degenerated into bloody chaos they quietly shifted to a remote mountain sanctuary and scaled the heights of knowledge, discovering the means to take positive control over their own evolution. The result was this new species - highly conscious, emotionally independent, disease resistant, asexual, self repairing, and potentially immortal, sustained by sunlight, water, air and inorganic minerals. Although they are cooperative and empathic beings, they tend to be solitary, and are served and protected by robotic helpers - the glowing spheres.
Having recently departed the mountain sanctuary they are travelling around the globe and preparing to settle where they please. Later they will reach for the stars, forever discovering new things and expanding their understanding of the essential foundation Truth of Life in the universe. But unlike the more primitive consciousness that preceded them they will be especially sensitive to all life wherever they go, respecting the independence and relative equality of other species and causing the least possible harm. Technology and their own genetic make-up will ensure they have no need to exploit other living organisms for food and they’ll never be so numerous as to push other species to premature extinction. That’s a big part of what it means to be truly civilized.
APARTHEID NEW ZEALAND STYLE No.1: OLD GHOSTS FIND NEW EXPRESSION. 13 March 1998 (82/1/-25) Acrylic on illustration board, 546 x 374mm. This painting is intended to raise awareness of a new version of apartheid that is being paraded under the cloak of “political correctness”. Talk about “white” schools, “white” law, or a “white” electoral roll and the reponse will be anything but sympathetic. Yet the Maori form of these in NZ is officially endorsed as if socially just.
It might be voluntary - the self proclaimed and highly vocal Maori leadership certainly approves of it and a lot more (calls for “sovereignty”), but the attitude at its heart is the age old spirit of racism. For it mean categorizing people and structuring social services according to an individual’s ancestry. And that involves stereotyping - making broad assumptions about individuals based on their skin colour.
Treating people as groups rather than individuals is plainly a convenience for the media, government, and lesser power mongers who seek to manipulate and control us for their own egotistical and economic gain. In NZ that last point may be seen as a specific reference to those who claim to be “leaders” of the Maori “community”. Forget “race” and “culture”, these are simply people out to enjoy a taste of power that would otherwise be more difficult to acquire amongst the competition of a larger group.
There is only one valid way to deal with or make judgements about other people: as the unique individuals we all are. Nothing is more irritating than having someone make decisions about your needs, your character, your strengths and weaknesses based on the ethnic group they’ve pigeonholed you into.
Sadly it’s a trap most of us can’t seem to escape - both as recipients and dealers. At the very time in history when the sense of global connectedness is starting to become real there is a powerful and violent movement to drag us back into the stone age - to preserve and enhance the values of tribalism. Anyone with self respect and a vision for future peace will reject it.
A MEASURED RESPONSE. 16 Oct 1994 Concept sketch, pencil on A4 paper. One of those terms commonly used in warfare inspired this image. Does all human competitiveness stem from the insecurites and obsessions males suffer relating to their genitals? How much of the world's misery is the result of males desperate to prove their "manhood"?