PLAYGROUND 

PLAYGROUND, 2019
1800 x 1200 mm
Oil on digital collage on board.

“Playground” is an allegory for the abuses of power. The work shows the central figure of Donald Trump within the quiet sanctuary of an elevator, while the doors closing in on him reflect a very different reality; street riots, women marches and protestors being reflected and, furthermore, explore the brutality at the core of human nature. Under Trump’s regime, hatred is promoted, tolerated and disseminated. The title of the work alludes to how politicians often misuse power as a ‘playground’, disregarding the consequences to real people’s lives. 

In this work abstract vs figurative, digital vs painting tear at their very seams. This work performs in a sense the drama of representational conflict and collusion, and in turn requires a big stage. The alternation between printed and painted, between opposition and fusion of the two unsettles the composition, infusing it with a sense of risk and invasion. Aggressive overpainting refuses the work the sanctity of ‘save’ narrative.