THE INEVITABILITY OF PROXIMITY

2009, Oil on Canvas, 130 x 130cm

Finalist, 2009 Prometheus Art Award
Finalist, 2010 Eutick Memorial Still Life Award

At a time where sports people are hero-worshipped by the public and media alike, I became interested in re-examining the oft-heard phrase about pushing one’s body to its physical limits to a new perspective where the limitation are defined by external conditions and physical constraint. To emphasise this point, the framing was reduced to the key elements - a hand, wheelchair and ball. The use of indoor stadium line markings further suggests the idea of boundaries, which is emphasised by the overall severe and unnatural angle. But all is not so definitive: lines are dashed and colours faint to indicate that the immediate physical barriers are just that; immediate. They are barriers, but ones that can be overcome.The title adds a whole extra dimension: does it refer to the game, the injury, or something else entirely?