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CONTEMPORARY ART CRITIQUE
Theory Essay
INTRODUCTION
The theme chosen for this assignment is the Environment. This theory essay will
analyse four artworks, each of them produced by a different contemporary
illustrator. The chosen artworks each have an environmental theme and perhaps
involve an element of controversy.
The reason why these artworks were selected is because they show an interesting
aspect to the environment. The pictures asked us the questions like “What are we
doing to the environment?” “Why aren’t we doing enough to help the planet?” and
“Are we raising the issues on climate change?” This essay will seek to answer some
of the questions that the chosen artists have posed in each of their pieces of art.
Lessons still need to be learned about the current issues of the environment and
the influence it had on climate change. These illustrations are to show the reason
why we must make a different approach to the environment.
Environmental issues include air pollution, chemicals, climate change, noise and
other issues. Artists have been at the forefront of depicting the environment since
the earliest times when many rock and cave paintings depicted a wide variety of
animals, although it is difficult to know for certain what the inspiration and
message behind these illustrations were. The earliest paintings of animals were
originally from the caves of Lascaux, and they were estimated to be up to around
20,000 years old.
For the chosen illustrations, the artists took inspiration either from memories,
facts and/or certain research.
“CROCODILE” – Daniel Mackie, (b. c.1970s)
Watercolour (2011)
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The picture combines both the crocodile and the waterfall. The rough skin of the
crocodile is reminiscent of the rough hills of the landscape and in fact, is a
substitute for the bank of the river. The work represents the theme of the
environmental subject. The picture shows the difference between the reptile and
its habitat. As Mackie (2011a) puts it, it was part of his series of paintings about
habitat loss. The crocodile crying ‘crocodile tears’ represents the idea of people
destroying the environment, but not caring enough to stop doing it. The phrase
‘crocodile tears’ derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while
consuming their victims and it means a false, insincere display of emotion such as
a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. According to Mackie (2011a), the myth about
‘crocodile tears’ comes from an anecdote first spread about by a man called Sir
John Mandeville (1300-1371) back in the 14th century. The picture was basically
sketched with pencils first, and then followed by the use of watercolour. The
waterfall and churning water at the bottom is reminiscent of Japanese artists.
Daniel Mackie (2011) said that he was very much influenced by Japanese prints
from artists like Hiroshige, Hokusai and Yoshitoshi. He also said that he was also
influenced by the simplicity of movements such as Art Deco and Egyptian tomb
paintings. Daniel Mackie is an artist who specialise in drawing animals with a
surrealist twist, which uses floral and Japanese details to create fantasy creatures.
Mackie often describes his love of mythology that continues to influence his work
and stories such as Aesop’s fables inspire his illustrations of animals from
environments as diverse as the English woodlands to the African plains.
This illustration relates to the theme of destruction of our natural environment.
Examples include deforestation, littering, oil spills and pollution. The destruction
of the natural habitat could lead to the extinction of this reptile and other
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creatures surrounding it. Mackie (2011b) explained that the American crocodile is
considered threatened and due to hide hunting, pollution, loss of habitat and
removal of adults for commercial farming, the American crocodile is endangered in
parts of its range. Also, the Siamese crocodile was classified as Critically
Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Mackie (2011b) also mentioned that in 1972, Venezuela banned commercial
crocodile skin harvesting for a decade, as a result of overhunting during the fifties
and sixties.
By illustrating the animal’s environment within its own body, Mackie seems to be
making a statement that the environment is inextricably linked with the animal it
supports. Without the crocodile, the river is made redundant – a barren landscape.
Without the river, the crocodile is a stranger within the landscape – an alien
without a home. Even humans are part of a wider landscape and are in danger, and
endangered, if they try to be masters of nature. The tears that the crocodile is
shedding may not be inverted, crocodile tears, but may represent sadness at the
loss of natural habitat and the threat of extinction to many creatures.
“DON’T MESS WITH MOTHER NATURE” – Jim Warren (b.1949)
Oil paint on stretched canvas, coated with a gesso primer, 30” x 40” (1997)
This picture was meant to represent the dangers of littering on the beach and the
sea. It shows the male teenager trying to attempt to sweep the rubbish under the
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sea like a carpet, when we see the eyes of Mother Nature peering through the
clouds, along with the thunderstorms and lightning. It looks as if somebody was
angry that the person is not properly treating the environment well. This sort of
action would mean spoiling the beach even more. Muneteau (2010), the author of
the referenced presentation, mentioned that according to the artist, many years
ago, hundreds of offshore wells were constructed and placed on islands a few
miles out from the coastline of Long Beach, California, where he was growing up.
At an early age, the artist discovered the impact technology was having on the
environment. Jim Warren creates a wide variety of paintings mainly mixing
surrealism and realism to produce Dali-like landscapes with environmental themes.
He is also known for his depictions of horses, and the female form, and is
designated as a Disney Artist.
The image represents the littering of beaches and the ocean in a literal sense but
also works as an allegory of the inability or refusal of the human race to take
responsibility for disposing of its waste carefully. The implication is just the
natural world, as in embodied ‘Mother Nature’, will fight back against its polluters.
This is anthropomorphisation – of nature in its element but natural phenomena,
such as earthquakes and tsunami, are often talked about as a punishment from
God. Perhaps the image of the rake echoes, in an ironic way, Japanese raked
gravel gardens – which are intended to represent nature’s spirit on a more intimate
scale. Leith Agency (2014) shows the results of their anti-litter campaign that
eighteen to twenty-four year olds were the worst offending litter droppers as they
were most likely to drop litter with either crisp packets, drink cans, apple cores or
sweetie wrappers.
The image is a graphic interpretation of humanity refusal to face its pollution of
the planet. It uses a graphic image, literally “sweeping it under the carpet”. It
represents the theme perfectly and get across its message in a concise and
dramatic way, ‘your actions are not going unnoticed’. The image would appeal to
many people from children to older viewers, because it shows possibly an image of
God looking down on someone destroying the landscape. Also, the image shows the
importance of respecting the environment.
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The other Earth-based illustrations that Jim Warren has produced, for comparison
are two versions of ‘Earth: Love It or Lose It’, which depict a child sitting on top of
the Earth, which is shown as a balloon, which has just been let go, without being
tied and shooting through the sky, rapidly shrinking. Younger viewers might think
that this image looks fun and amusing, but it is actually a serious theme.
“GREEN TREE FROG” – Kevina Vulinec (b.1950)
Colouring pencils, 1994
This picture shows the green tree frog in its natural habitat. The main colour for
this illustration is green, and it looks as if it was camouflaged. Like this one, many
tree frogs can change their colours for better camouflage. This picture represents
the highly detailed view of a frog in long grass. The green tree frogs are also
usually tiny, as their weight has to be carried by the branches and the twigs of
their natural habitat. There are two types of green tree frog, the American green
tree frog and the Australian green tree frog, and their conservation status are
marked as ‘Least Concern’. The illustrator is also concerned about our natural
environment, since she is the assistant professor of wildlife biology at Delaware
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State University. According to Vulinec (2011), ‘we are an interconnected systems
of organisms’. In this way, Vulinec showed us that even a very small part of the
environmental system, such as the frog, is very important. If the frog loses that
habitat where it lives, it will die and parts of the systems will be lost. Vulinec
(2011) also said that there are best artists who have a background in anatomy,
natural history, and an understanding of habitat relationships, like Pablo Picasso
(1882-1973) (because the horse in the Guernica painting), Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
(often thought of herself as part other animal) and Georgia O’Keffe (1887-1986)
(the anatomy of bones). Many of the artistic works Kevina Vulinec has created are
accurate and beautiful representations of birds and animals. She is part of a long
tradition of naturalists who also made illustrations of their research species such as
Peter Brown, Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Maria Sibylla Merian and Thomas
Muffet, who is a subject with the nursery rhyme, ‘Little Miss Muffet’.
In 1996, along with Mark Deyrup, Kevina Vulinec has written and illustrated the
Florida Scrub Colouring Book for the Archibald Biological Station in the Florida
Everglades. Over the years, Kevina Vulinec has been studying wild animals, their
natural habitat, and their behaviour while doing some illustrations about them.
The work represents the theme of the importance of the environment, since it
magnifies the image of the frog and makes it seem more important. The
camouflage part of the image shows the frog living in harmony with in its
environment. It is important not to destroy the natural balance of nature.
The image represents the environmental theme, in a botanically and anatomically
correct way, unsurprisingly as it comes from an artist who is also assistant
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professor of biology. However, is the frog hiding, and if so, from what? Or is the
illustration showing the frog in complete harmony with its environment?
“ANIMAL MURAL” – Laura Carlin (b.1980)
Ceramic earthenware tiles, glazed, watercolours and acrylic paints (c. 2012)
Composed of eighty-four tiles, this design shows the animals that we see in either
the zoo and/or in the wild. Each of those tiles was measured on the width of ten
centimetres and the height of ten centimetres. The overall measurements were
the width of one hundred and twenty centimetres and the height of seventy
centimetres. They were painted on the tiles, using watercolours and acrylic paints.
Many of the animals are depicted twice, perhaps a reference to Noah’s Ark and
two of every species being collected into the Ark to be saved from the floods – a
biblical environmental disaster. Perhaps there’s another hint here that we need to
prepare for another environmental disaster by looking after the animals.
Since medieval times, animals have often been depicted on tiles, as is shown on
Pinterest (n.d.), although the earliest surviving animal tiles are from Roman times
and according to Silvers (2011) were found and unearthed during an excavation in
Lod, Israel. Catleugh (1991) has mentioned that some of the earliest tiles came
from a much earlier time, when rudimentary tiles using a turquoise glaze were
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produced around the fourth millennium BC. Catleugh (1991) also mentioned that
the most earliest animal tiles were done from the 13th to 6th centuries BC, when
the Assyrians and Babylonians made patterned wall tiles and the palace of the
Achemenid kings at Susa, Persia (c.350 BC) had friezes of coloured relief tiles
depicting lions, winged bulls and a frieze of archers of the royal body guard.
While studying her master’s at the Royal College of Art, Laura Carlin won the
Quentin Blake Prize two years in a row. Laura Carlin’s illustrations have a naïve
quality. Perhaps this shows a vulnerable side to the animals and nature in general –
something we should nurture.
This whole image refers to the subject of animal life, either in the zoo or in the
wild. Since the images are drawn in a childlike style, this could represent the loss
of innocence and the way our planet used to be, before we began to destroy it.
The image represents the theme quite well, continuing the history of drawing and
painting animals onto tiles. There is an underlying and understated environmental
theme and perhaps subtle reference to Noah’s Ark.
CONCLUSION
As far back as medieval times, there are books that include illustrations alongside
text descriptions. Before the age of coloured photographs, coloured images were
the only way to show the colourful patterns that some animals have. From the late
15th century, many animals were known only from illustrated publications, such as
Thomas Muffet (1553-1604), Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) and Mark Catesby (1683-
1749). In fact, the only way we know what some now-extinct species looked like is
through those earliest illustrations.
What was shown by the illustrations chosen is that environmental concerns are
increasingly being given a voice by modern artists, through the medium of drawing,
painting and ceramic tiles.
A future example of this is Art.Science.Gallery’s most recent exhibition, which was
called “In Danger (or, you should really, really give a shit)”. This seeks to highlight
the alarming rate of species’ decline and extinction worldwide, which was caused
directly and indirectly by human impacts, and asks what the public could do about
it. Art.Science.Gallery (2015) also said that the exhibit had three main goals: To
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visualize the immediacy and magnitude of CE species issues, to remember extinct
species through an altar of remembrance and to motivate visitors to take action
through education, personal behaviour, and advocacy.
Although there are some serious environmental themes posed by the illustrations,
it is interesting that none of the pictures are of environmental disasters. These
illustrations seem to be light-hearted. Throughout, the natural world remains
vibrant. The jewel-like colours and the lush backgrounds remind us of how
precious the environment is and how important that humans understand its
importance and fragility.
REFERENCE/BIBLIOGRAPHY
ART.SCIENCE.GALLERY, 2015. In Danger (or you should really, really give a shit) |
Art.Science.Gallery [viewed 10 January 2016] Available from:
http://artsciencegallery.com/2015/10/24/in-danger/
BRADSHAW FOUNDATION, 2011. The Cave Art Paintings of the Lascaux Cave
[viewed 12 January 2016] Available from:
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux/
CATLEUGH, J. et al., 1991. Fired Earth: 1000 Years of Tiles in Europe. Shepton
Beauchamp, Somerset: Richard Dennis Publications
FINE ART ESTATE, 1996. Jim Warren Fine Art Limited Edition Earth, Love it or Lose
it [viewed 12 January 2016] Available from: http://www.fineart-e.com/war-
p10.htm
FINE ART ESTATE, 1996. Jim Warren Fine Art Limited Edition Don’t Mess With
Mother Nature [viewed 02 January 2016] Available from:
http://www.aejv.com/war-p08.htm
FORTNER, J. 2011. Daniel Mackie Interview | Tangled Fingers [viewed 10 January
2016] Available from: http://www.tangledfingers.com/daniel-mackie/
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FRIZZELL, N. 2012. Laura Carlin: How to get commissioned | IdeasTap [viewed 10
January 2016] Available from: http://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/all-
articles/laura-carlin-interview/
GILLESPIE, H. 2011. ECO Art + Science: Illustrator + Wildlife Biologist Kevina
Vulinec | biocreativity [viewed 05 January 2016] Available from:
https://biocreativity.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/eco-art-science-illustrator-
wildlife-biologist-kevina-vulinec/
LEITH AGENCY, 2014. The Leith Agency – Bold Ideas That Work – Cleaning Up
Scotland [viewed 12 January 2016] Available from: http://leith.co.uk/cleaning-up-
scotland/
MACKIE, D. 2011a. Boo hoo – The Nile Crocodile illustration | Watercolour Artist
Daniel Mackie, Artist behind The DM Collection [viewed 05 January 2016] Available
from: http://blog.thedmcollection.com/2011/12/15/boo-hoo-the-nile-crocodile-
illustration/
MACKIE, D. 2011b. 55 million years old lizard that’ll eat you for breakfast!
Crocodile Illustration | Watercolour Artist Daniel Mackie, Artist behind The DM
Collection [viewed 10 January 2016] Available from:
http://blog.thedmcollection.com/2011/12/05/55-million-years-old-lizard-thatll-
eat-you-for-breakfast-crocdile-illustration/
MACKIE, D. n.d. About – The DM Collection [viewed 11 January 2016] Available
from: http://www.thedmcollection.com/pages/about-us/
MUNTEANU, V. 2010. Jim warren peisaje [viewed 07 January 2016] Available from:
http://www.slideshare.net/viorea4u/jim-warren-peisaje
PINTEREST, n.d. TILES on Pinterest | Tiles, Antiques and Dutch [viewed 10 January
2016] Available from: https://uk.pinterest.com/kaftanzee/tiles/
SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, n.d. Spotlight on Amateur
Naturalists Department of Verteabrate Zoology Libraries [viewed 12 January 2016]
Available from: http://vertebrates.si.edu/vz_libraries/art_media.html
SILVERS, E. 2011. j. | Pieces of History: Ancient Roman mosaic from Israel on
display at Legion of Honor San Francisco [viewed 10 January 2016] Available from
