Sunsets and Meteors, 2018
Painting scrolls, jars of ancient fossilised plants, meteor dust, bone, gold & oil paint on calf skin
‘Sunsets and Meteors’ is a work created from materials that speak to the fragility of the earth. The piece is a series of painted scrolls on vellum, each recalls events...
‘Sunsets and Meteors’ is a work created from materials that speak to the fragility of the earth. The piece is a series of painted scrolls on vellum, each recalls events in the evolution of life through a vast expanse of time, from the origin of plants to the shifting of tectonic plates to the extinction of the Jurassic period triggered by a falling meteorite.This artwork is one of a series of pieces inspired in part by the ESA Solar Orbiter mission, bringing together elements of contemporary engineering and pre-history through the use of carbon and charred bone.
Pigments combined with layers of charred bone are sprayed directly onto the skin using tools employed by space technology. It is the same kind of material that is found in the crushed animal bones, as used by Stone Age man, to make cave paintings. Through the use of these materials, McDonald is tracing a line between the worlds of past and future, from the geology of pre-history to the present.
Pigments combined with layers of charred bone are sprayed directly onto the skin using tools employed by space technology. It is the same kind of material that is found in the crushed animal bones, as used by Stone Age man, to make cave paintings. Through the use of these materials, McDonald is tracing a line between the worlds of past and future, from the geology of pre-history to the present.