No Hope of Parole

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on April 29, 2015 at 9:43am

Curator’s Comments:

 

No Hope of Parole is a powerful piece; speaking to the heart of animal welfare without showing graphic abuse.  It is an image I keep coming back to for its visual strength and clarity of expression.  Formally, as an art piece, the textural variations nicely alternate soft warm tones of the animal with the cool grey cage.  The viewer can feel the mass and weight of the body pressing against the bars.  The small opening at the bottom of the image offers a narrow escape (not for the captive lion) for the viewer psychologically, as it relieves the otherwise consistent density of the composition.  However, I find myself contemplating the manipulation of what was an original photographic image.  I can’t ascertain what the piece projects as a digital painting that it couldn’t as a photograph? But ultimately the piece stands apart from the medium, and successfully holds my attention.