Acrylic on Canvas

30cm x 40cm

Price incs shipping.

The 'Startled Artist' is an evolving Pop emblem to capture observations and reflections on the current state of both personal and world events. It continues a lineage of motifs from recent art history beginning with Harvey Ball's Smiley Face - created during the optimism of the 60's, Keith Haring's Radiant Baby in the 80's - to Kaws X-eyed Mickey developed in the blissed-out late nineties/early noughties..

The skull motif is the consistent and recognisable form that is positioned over any painting, photograph or video enabling a broad body of works surveying or commenting on a multitude of subjects. It represents the mind - floating through the world while the world floats through the mind..

A universal motif - the skull is seen in art across all human cultures throughout history - and as such acknowledges our shared experience and commonality. To reflect this historical context, the 'Startled Artist' skull has a tribal feel - and the motif has been reduced down to its most simplistic representation - being composed of just four lines.

At the same time, in order to assert that these artworks are created in the present - the skull is rendered as neon. This not only makes the tribal motif contemporary, but also the fact that neon gives off light - symbolises how science, knowledge and art illuminate our lives.