The roadkill project is a response to what I see every day on the roads around my home in rural Perthshire. I have been gradually documenting some of the roadkill I come across on my travels, collecting the corpses from the road and bringing them back to the studio to study. They are laid down on the surfaces I have to hand when they come into the studio - usually pieces of cardboard or paper, sometimes a strip of material or an old sketchbook cover. I first draw the bodies several times and then paint them.
As the decomposition process advances the form of the corpse changes, contracting and sinking. There is also an issue of odour of course, and all this means I must work quickly. The paintings are usually finished within three or fours days of the corpse being collected after which time I take the bodies into the deep woods and leave them out to nourish scavenging wildlife.
Since beginning this project, the subject matter has expanded a little as non-roadkill bodies have come my way. Some of these are included here too.
The painting them selves are very simplistic often just the animal on a white background removing the animal from the reality of life. Sometimes the white paper looks like something you would find at a butchers. i don't know whether or not I like them the fact i can't find much to say means something i think the fact they are removed from reality and in to the studio shows the interference of man with nature
As the decomposition process advances the form of the corpse changes, contracting and sinking. There is also an issue of odour of course, and all this means I must work quickly. The paintings are usually finished within three or fours days of the corpse being collected after which time I take the bodies into the deep woods and leave them out to nourish scavenging wildlife.
Since beginning this project, the subject matter has expanded a little as non-roadkill bodies have come my way. Some of these are included here too.
The painting them selves are very simplistic often just the animal on a white background removing the animal from the reality of life. Sometimes the white paper looks like something you would find at a butchers. i don't know whether or not I like them the fact i can't find much to say means something i think the fact they are removed from reality and in to the studio shows the interference of man with nature
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