Where The Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are plays with our expectations of wilderness, authenticity and the stories we tell ourselves about nature. At first glance, a warning sign declaring "Caution: Wild Animals" suggests danger lies ahead. But following the winding path reveals something quite different.

Standing among the Australian gum trees and distant blue hills is an unlikely collection of creatures: an elephant fashioned from weathered sheets of metal, a well-loved toy panda, a towering wooden giraffe and a concrete penguin. None belong in this landscape, and none are truly alive. The only genuine wild animal is the koala quietly perched in a gum tree—so perfectly at home it almost disappears among the manufactured menagerie.

The painting draws on the familiar experience of wandering through a zoo, where carefully curated encounters invite us to admire animals removed from their natural worlds. Here, however, the roles are reversed. The artificial animals are presented as the attraction, while Australia's own native wildlife quietly exists in the background, overlooked.

Humour has always been central to my work, and this painting celebrates the uniquely Australian ability to find irony in the ordinary. The caution sign becomes a playful joke: the "wild things" are harmless sculptures and toys, while the only truly wild creature is the one we are least likely to notice.

 The work invites viewers to smile, look a little closer and question what is real, what belongs, and how easily appearances can shape our perceptions. Like many of my paintings, the story unfolds slowly, rewarding curiosity with small discoveries and a gentle reminder that sometimes the wildest thing is our imagination. The sides are painted, it's varnished and ready to hang with wire across the back.