i have featured Katrin Coetzer so many times on this here blog, so it stands to reason that i couldn’t NOT share her latest exhibition. but it is of course SO DAMN GOOD you guys, that’s the real reason for sharing it!! Warmblooded is a homage in drawing, painting and collage to David Attenborough at 91.
With warmth and charm the British broadcaster and naturalist introduced generations to the wonders of the natural world. This collection of images is a visual response of gratitude to his work and the mystery and richness he has given us access to via the TV screen. Attenborough has laid bare the extraordinariness of our planet and continues to do so with great whispered enthusiasm. His fascination precedes our own and this makes him a most compelling muse. In this deeply uncomfortable extended moment in which it seems humanity is surely headed for ecological armageddon it should follow that our perception of the natural world as an unlimited untouched wilderness must change and be replaced with an understanding that acknowledges its vulnerability and our critical role in it. The natural world as subject matter takes on new meaning in the modern context. The predictable nostalgia and romanticism of landscape imagery now too represents the idea of creeping loss.
i suggest you get hold of Salon91 if you’re interested in buying any of these pieces, if you’re lucky something might be available…
speaking of Attenborough, have you watched Blue Planet II? Anton and i caught up on it recently, and to be honest i wasn’t super keen to watch it because the ocean makes me sad somehow (all the fucking plastic UGH). it is of course astounding, i can’t remember the last time i watched a nature programme and exclaimed so many times “what!? that’s unbelievable!” really do give it a watch if you haven’t yet. and stop drinking out of plastic straws.
Kingdom Animalia