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Donna McLean

@mcleanpaintings


Statement:
A compelling symbol of mans endless capacity to inflict suffering & destruction on himself & his ability to create something astonishing at the same time for there is no denying the terrible beauty & splendour of the atomic bomb.
 
I had no way of knowing how frighteningly relevant this subject would become only months after its completion. I thought I was painting ‘history’ - a subject from our crazy past, something humanity had grown out of  but over the last few weeks the word ’nuclear’ has made a depressing comeback.
 
“So it goes” - Kurt Vonnegut
 
I have no desire to paint a large or medium sized explosion, the tiny scale of these little bombs appeals to me. To reduce something huge & terrifying into a gemlike thing so small it could fit in a pocket.
‘Atomic’ is a recreation of my studio wall. I realised something happened when these small works are seen together, they became more substantial than when viewed alone & slowly over time turned into a diary of its remarkable visual diversity. 
It shape shifts into different forms - jellyfish, moon, iceberg, tree, sunset & a variety of flowers - there’s so much more to the atomic bomb than the classic solitary mushroom.
We need to keep it firmly in the past ….. not the future.

Picture
Atomic
185 x 123cm
Oil on board