Mark Sheeky Artworks

About this painting

Developed for a competition held by the Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth, the challenge was to develop a work with the theme of Moving. I instantly thought of a leaping tiger which was somehow not moving. Tigers, the most majestic of felines, yet as endangered as any large mammal, an animal moving toward extinction whether quickly or slowly. This is the theme of the work.

I started with the overall shape of the painting. You'll note that the approximate frame of the black hole and quarter-circle on the right defines an abstracted tiger's head. In the painting, the tiger is leaping towards a black hole, oblivion, the slope of the horizon adding to the sense of falling, reinforced by the waterfall below. The animal itself is split into two, the left side growing from, rather than leaping from, the rocks, an indication of history and our ancient past, a time when humans were hunted by these large cats. At one point humans were almost hunted to extinction, primarily by large cats.

The cave painting of the spear-throwing hunter in the lower left corner hints at this history and the change of hunted to hunter. In the waterfall, a man falls too, a message of the fragility of life; if the prey is wiped out, the predator will ultimately follow.