artwork unpacked
Friday, 11 October 2013
A Book About Death - Australia
A book about death - The First Death
Sharon Roberts
Showing at Tweed River Art Gallery 18 October -24 November 2013, in Murwillumbah South, NSW, is an exhibition “A Book About Death - Australia”. There have been a number of such exhibitions around the world where artists send a digital copy and postcard of an artwork, in any media, relating to the theme “death”.
Far from being a morbid and depressing exhibition, the artworks reference many aspects of a subject which touches us all.
My entry, shown above, and also on the ABAD-Australia blog site as artist #240, is titled “A Book About Death - The First Death”.
It is a digital image of a drypoint etching, the making of which became a process of experimental technique involving such things as a makeshift printing press - using ply from an old wardrobe, old towels, and driving a car over the stack. The result was a very nice plate but I was unable to pull an acceptable print on the paper.
As the ‘deadline’ (sorry) approached I realised this wasn't going to work without a proper press (the car was, I think, too heavy) and hand burnishing had been unsuccessful, so I created a lightbox out of a white esky and a halogen desk lamp, photographed the plate which had been through the car-press and transferred it to the computer to become a digital print.
Symbolism in my ABAD - Australia artwork.
The image shows a woman’s left hand holding a piece of fruit from which a bite has been taken. She is offering it to a male whose hand is represented by the finger which rests gently under her finger-tips and is poised to receive it into his hand.
As it is less common in our culture to offer something to someone else with the left hand, it’s use is intended to imply secrecy. The woman eats of the fruit first, and then passes it to the man.
The title of the work “The First Death” gives a context for the identity of the subject being Eve passing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge to Adam, in deliberate disobedience to the instructions God had given them, resulting in the entry of death into the human race, as written in the Biblical record of Genesis.
To see artworks in the A Book About Death - Australia exhibition go to the abad website