SCARECROW

The image is an updated take of the Goya painting Straw Manikin 1791-92... I am fascinated by Goya's imagery, which through time has become for me more open ended, accruing  new meanings which Goya could never have intended. I wanted to play with Goya's original narrative and extend the metaphor. For me the picture on one level speaks of the development and implementation of a  patriarchal,   conservative world order that seeks to "dress things up" in the glib, superficially attractive glow of 50's consumerism- we have all grown up with this as the dominating backdrop to our lives- Market forces, in-built obsolescence, trends & fashions...The Scarecrow thrown up at the whims of these forces is us...constantly forced to change, herded into groups to "fit in".
On another level the painting addresses our own mortality... We are all born, thrown up into, and carried along by the buoyancy of world to make our way and then exit the stage.
These views are personal. They are my reflections. I don't take them to be definitive- and I never make work with that intention. What interests me is the stories pictures accrue once the dust has settled....