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| The Baptism, Oil on canvas, 2011 |
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| The Sacrifice, Oil on canvas, 2011 |
Martin Wittfooth is an artist who works and lives in Brooklyn, New York. When living within a city, every person is surrounded by industrial empires. They dominate and bombard our senses. The consequences of global industrialization be easily forgotten and hidden away when living inside something that is itself a product of industrialization. Wittfooth's oil paintings delve deep into the distressing truth of industrialization's impact on on nature. Industry's modern 'empires' are fueled by greed without guilt and domination without disquiet. His painted landscapes are visually and mentally intense. The main subjects of his paintings are animals that we all know and love in harmful and toxic locations or circumstances. His work can catch the eye of any animal lover.
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| The Spoils, Oil on canvas, 2011 |
In Wittfooth's oil paining called 'The
Spoils', a white pelican stands at the edge of a rocky shore. Pearl,
gold, and jeweled necklaces are worn around her neck and are draping
from the inside of her pouched bill. When looking closer you can see
dark oil dripping from her bill. Behind her is a dark, rough ocean
and a sky filled with smoke from a fire off in the distance. It can
be quite easy to see that this is a painting of a coastal oil spill.
It is a unfortunate environmental catastrophe that has happened many
times since the beginning of ocean floor drilling for fossil fuels;
one of the most recent and devastating was the BP oil spill off the
Gulf of Mexico. Spills devastate marine ecosystems, including animals
that thrive off of them like sea birds. It takes years for ecosystems
to get back to a healthy level.
The pearl and gold jewelry hanging from
the pelican's neck symbolize human greed. What must be mentioned
about the painting is that there is an absence of humans, no boats or
helicopters heading towards the fire to extinguish it. The absence of human
activity represents that humans, specifically industrial empires, are
disconnected from the environments that they use and abuse for
economic gain. This is an aspect that repeats in many of his
paintings. Wittfooth's landscapes of human induced environmental
catastrophes, occupied by animals that try to survive it, implore his
viewers to rethink our way of life and question the social structures that control it.
Fantastic choice, and beautiful writing.
ReplyDeleteYou might also be interested in the work of the artist Walton Ford; his work is in a similar style, although it very much references the work of John James Audubon and other 19th century artists who were documenting nature. He too is commenting on human politics and activity through the depiction of animals.