LIFEBLOOD

Click on the painting and you will see $ signs! In a previous post 'Currency' I have written about my interest in the uses of this word with regards to money and water. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/currency.html

I have called this painting 'Lifeblood' because water is the Earth's 'blood'. Rivers, oceans, streams, underground aquafers, rain, melting ice are all parts of the visceral and vascular system which assists in keeping our planet and us alive. Yet, water has become a commodity to be bought and sold, borrowed, harvested, allocated and litigated about. There is a monetry value to water and its flow which, if monitored appropriately, will ensure appropriate use of water for all people. However, can we be sure that this will happen?

So...in this painting I have created a vein of red $ signs in the sky. From this vein rain falls in two strips. This rain is also painted with $ signs. I have painted the rain in strips because when I lived in western Queensland I was always intrigued by the appearance of rain in the distance. Driving west from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi I often witnessed strips of rain on the far horizon and hoped the rain was falling on Goondiwindi! This kind of hope is deeply felt by country people.

I have also painted the dammed and underground water and the surrounding soil in $ signs. This is commenting on the 'value', use and diminishment of underground water. The depletion of underground aquafers causes salination and thus the loss of soil richness, subsequently causing land degradation and loss of income as well as sustainability.

Whilst this painting comments on water and its 'value' it also contibutes to my interest in perspective. Like many of my recent paintings this painting, when viewed from a distance, does not reveal its details. It looks like some sort of ambiguous but vast landscape. However, up close
the viewer can see the details of the $ signs and starts to question the 'big picture'. In a way the movement back and forth to view the painting [mirroring how an artist works] is a metaphor for contemporary life living locally in an increasingly globalised world.

I have previously uploaded this painting, but since then I have worked on it a bit more.

Lifeblood Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2008/09.