Ballan Bolton

Painting long Vanuatu: 28 February – 25 March, 2009

artists/ballan-bolton

Ballan Bolton

Checking the fishing nets
oil on linen 41×46cm
$1200

about the artist

My responsibility as an artist, I believe, is to capture and comment on humanity. I like the idea of an artist, like a journalist or a historian, providing a record of a certain time, place and people.

Travel, different cultures and changing environments have been part of my life since childhood. I have experienced living in traditional, indigenous, remote and urban communities around the world. Similar to artists that have inspired me, like Brett Whiteley and Toulouse-Lautrec, I see my paintings as a way to create a record about the society in which I live.

I hope my paintings are viewed positively, but also reveal some of the hardships of life in a world that is changing quickly. I want to capture universal themes about humanity – family, food and people’s everyday lives. Things that most of us can relate to, whatever culture or country we live in.

In this body of work I explore the life and people of Vanuatu. I paint everyday scenes as I see them – people shopping, catching buses, fishing. Through my work I also explore Vanuatu’s beauty and character in a way that differs from the image of Vanuatu as purely a tourist destination with tropical beaches and palm trees. So different but still so ordinary.

Ballan Bolton

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