THEY THINK THEY ARE FALLEN ANGELS

 

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'Fallen Angel' 2009 - 2010 Oil colour on limewood Height 2.5m ' Fallen Angel' - detail 'They think they are Fallen Angels' - detail 'They think they are Fallen Angels' Installation 2009 -2010 'They think they are Fallen Angels' Length of recumbent figure 1.97m 'Expulsion 1' 2011 Oil colour & gold leaf on Sweet Chestnut Height 71cm x 1.50m

'Expulsion 1' -detail 'Expulsion 1' -detail 'Expulsion 2' 2011 Oil colour on sweet chestnut panel Height 60cm x 2m 'Fallen Angel 2' 2011 Oil colour on Limewood Height 44cm 'Fallen Angel 2' - detail 'Fallen Angel 1' 2009 Oil colour on Limewood Height 79cm

'Mouse' 2011 Polychromed limewood Height 81cm 'Sticklebacks' 2011 Oil colour on Sweet Chestnut Height of each panel 40cm x 45cm 'Woman and Pig' 2011 Oil colour on Limewood Height 86cm 'Woman and Pig' - detail 'Woman with Red Hair' 2011 Oil colour on Limewood Height 63.5cm 'Woman with Red Hair' detail

 

That man is the noblest creature may be inferred from the fact that no other creature has contested this claim.
G.C. Lichtenberg 1742-1799

The starting point for this recent work came from the above quotation and Milton’s Paradise Lost, where Milton’s Fallen Angel finds himself exiled in an icy landscape devoid of God’s warmth and love. In the installation They Think They Are Fallen Angels together with other free-standing sculptures and wall reliefs I consider our attitudes towards ourselves and other animals. The work poses challenging questions: why do we insist that we are unique, or Fallen Angels made in the image of God? Are we not mere biological creatures destined to suffer the same fate of all animals? We consider our creativity to be unique, deny creativity in other animals thereby exploiting them and giving us an excuse to be cruel to them. But our creativity can be explained by evolution as an adaptation, (in the same way that a leopard has spots for example). Our creativity is also a burden because although we think technology can save us, our creative success may ultimately be our downfall.