{"product_id":"the-waste-land","title":"The Waste Land","description":"\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"19\" data-end=\"456\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"19\" data-end=\"34\"\u003eThe Wasteland\u003c\/em\u003e was inspired by sketches made in the Business Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport during the height of the COVID lockdown. I was travelling back to Australia on one of the few international flights operating at the time, and the normally crowded airport was almost completely empty. A place designed for movement and human interaction had become strangely silent, creating an atmosphere of isolation and foreboding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"458\" data-end=\"785\"\u003eRather than attempting to document the airport, I was drawn to the experience of the place: the vast areas of darkness, the geometric architecture, the cold light beyond the windows and the intense shaft of artificial light cutting through the gloom. A solitary figure provides a small but important reminder of human presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"787\" data-end=\"964\"\u003eThe title is a quiet nod to T. S. Eliot's \u003cem data-start=\"829\" data-end=\"845\"\u003eThe Waste Land\u003c\/em\u003e, whose themes of fragmentation, isolation and a world temporarily stripped of meaning seemed particularly appropriate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"966\" data-end=\"1259\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"\u003eThe painting has also made me reflect on something increasingly important in my work: \u003cstrong data-start=\"1052\" data-end=\"1114\"\u003elight defines a place; memory shapes the way we depict it.\u003c\/strong\u003e What remains with us is rarely the whole scene, but a few fragments of light, colour, form and atmosphere. Sometimes those fragments are enough.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nigel Bailey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54241316470895,"sku":null,"price":1600.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0679\/2078\/9615\/files\/69164a62e1b8ea140711df10_wasteland-1-2_1788735618327.jpg?v=1788735865","url":"https:\/\/www.theonlineartgallery.com.au\/products\/the-waste-land","provider":"The Online Art Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}