Between Two Worlds

OIl on Panel, about 25 × 25cm excl frame, painted mid-2010s

I uploaded a big bunch of paintings from the last 13 years. This one would’ve been done in the mid 2010s and considering the previous article on the video game Story Of Thor, I thought it worth talking about.

In dimensions it’s pretty small, about 25x25cm, oil on panel, and the frame (assembled and carved by me) is spotted-gum.

I gave it the title Between Two Worlds during my last attempt at a website build several years ago, and being framed and hanging on my wall at home, it enjoys privileges that a lot of my paintings don’t have (most are unframed, many remain unnamed, many that are on this website were only named recently).

The name speaks for the painting, so it was an easy decision. I’m a dual-citizen and I live between two worlds. Today I heard there was an internal controversy within the Liberal Party of Australia about whether dual-nationals should be made to choose between one nationality or the other. I don’t know how that would be enforceable, but I’m sure they’ll find a way, and I might someday have to commit to one doorway or another. But psychologically I’ll always be stuck between the two. It can’t be helped now.

In Story of Thor there was a sub-boss which was a cloaked figure. I also took the idea off an album cover by Helloween and other heavy metal bands, I believe they appear in Mortal Kombat too. I won’t deny it’s a familiar trope derived from medieval monastic life. But that’s okay. We don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. The blast of laser light from the eye is also a trope, but not one I can say for certain is in the historical record. (Or maybe it is, I don’t know).

The sarcophagus in the middle was inspired by royal sarcophagi I saw in Vienna, Austria and Krakow, Poland.

I used alot of MH Cremnitz White, which is how I got the textures of the cliffs and archways. Cremnitz White is a thick and stringy lead-white and a go-to of mine for textured effects. That and glazing.

I chose to make a spotted-gum frame for it as I beleive strongly in making use of local materials and standing up for Australian production and manufacturing. In a way I’m an Australian producer and manufacturer. This country has a great wealth and variety of possibilities with native timber, which our government actively discourages us from using. I feel that’s wrong and am doing my small bit to try and correct the balance. The timber is usually purchased from either a salvage-yard or Bunnings, so procured legally. Surplus native timber just lies to rot on the floor of Australia’s national parks, waiting to combust in the next bad bushfire. Aboriginal Australians actively kept the forest floor clean for hunting by doing winter back-burns, or using any timber that lay on the ground. By contrast, 21st century Australia has developed an obsession with keeping the natural environment “untouched” by modern civilisation, but there are no more Aborigines leading a pre-colonial hunter-gatherer life to clear the wood either. Feral animals overrun the forests, emergency services struggle to find pathways through the forests to fight fires. Its a greenie disaster and entirely unnatural, and not in any way like “native” conditions. They are lying to themselves and lying to us.

That’s just one of many reasons why if I had to pick a doorway, even though I’ve lived almost my entirely life in Australia and speak/think primarily in English, I’m not sure which one I’d take. But it summarizes a lot.