Michael Beamish - Space-scape

Michael Beamish
Space-scape (2021)
Acrylic and sand (mixed media) on Di-Bond composite panels
108 x 81 x 3cm.

Michael Beamish is completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania. He has been experimenting with paint densities, adding differing amounts of Floetrol and water to thin acrylic paints to low viscosities allowing spreading and intermixing of pour paints on a horizontal surface. He embarked on a series of studies with paints of known densities and viscosities to study the effects of these physical properties on the behaviour of liquid paint pours. These liquid pours on large horizontal Di-bond surfaces allow a more intimate relationship between the work and artist, the work developing in an intuitive manner in ways often unanticipated by its creator. He has been particularly influenced by the landscapes and indigenous culture of mainland Australia, and to what lies outside our tiny Ecosphere.

Space-scape:
(Notes from his journal): Final Iteration.
Three suns are added with a flock of disappearing birds. The suns and blue/white ground indicate a state of harmony. The slashing of dark blue and red paint across the work is associated with a flight of a flock of birds as a metaphor for global warming, climate change, and the possibility of the 6th extinction.