Northern Exposure Art Exhibition, The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie

“Jesus Wears a Wetsuit – No Worries”

has been selected for Northern Exposure 5, an exhibition showcasing regional artists at Port Macquarie’s Glasshouse Gallery July 14 – Sept 9.

“On the board of the cross, the surfer sacrifices fear of death and desire for the ultimate wave, gaining eternal life.’

ART STATEMENT

Increased shark attacks in the region have changed my daily surf from a relaxing ritual, to a series of contemplations based on the opposition and transcendence of life. How do I face the enormity of life, with its inevitable suffering and death of all creatures? How do I match that with the allure of existence and yet hold on to the eternal?

As a child, I listened to stories rich in symbolism, from the Garden of Eden, to the Trees of Knowledge and of Immortality, or the Legend of the Cross . . . of sacrifice and resurrection. As an adult, I dismissed these parables and allegories, feeling trapped by them and inevitably trapping their inherent energy, until I could reframe their universal meaning as archetypes divorced from dogma. This reframing enabled a releasing . . . a letting go into their vitality.

In this sense in my current work, I am exploring this moment in a contemporary way. This painting acknowledges and gives meaning to the inherent dangers of being a surfer. As someone who is always intimately vulnerable to the impact of nature and yet at the same time reaching into the divine. A surfer transforms fear or possibility of death into the sublime, into a moment when the two go hand in hand down the face of the wave searching for the best ride of one’s life.