Passed By 2005 Oil on Linen 600 x 900mm $3200
Thousands of people a day pass by this old gentleman. A relic of a past life the old ironbark stands with an iron heart. Scared by its life it stands destitute but proud. The main trunk is long gone and its replacement is also dead yet its life goes on even if passed by.
The painting is also about looking: For those with eyes to see. I, myself passed by this tree for a year without seeing its hidden beauty and then it haunted me for the next three. Like a beggar on the road we don’t see or choose to look the other way. We live in a world where the insignificant are passed by and the ugly are cut down.
Started in 2004 this painting is a part of the Figure in Landscape series. It is on a main intersection of Putty Rd at Wilberforce.
Australia as a landscape is populated by trees and characterized by its’ trees. Each painting in the series is a complex metaphor for aspects of human life. Trees are chosen for their sculptural presence and placed forward and central in the canvas much like a portrait painting.