< SYMBOLIC

OUT IN THE MIDDAY SUN

Midday Sun

Out in the Midday SunScott Bennett | 1992 | Acrylic on canvas | Private collection

Only mad dogs and Englishmen… A proud hunter poses with his hound and the bag, a Tasmanian Tiger. The dots are small squares made using potato print.

There are a number of layers in this work. My own symbol developed from the Gentle Prayer series is overlayed in white. The form of the Union Jack* is marked out in the red and blue colours.

It is at once a symbol, a flag, a ritual mandala painting, a flat design, overlaying the perspective of the photographic image which is a record of real events.

The title came from the phrase “Only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun.”  Noel Coward is said to have originated the phrase with his 1932 song Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

* The Union Jack is the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

Historical image

The historical photograph that inspired the painting. 

The arrival of European settlers and introduction of sheep in 1824 led to conflict between the settlers and the tiger. The introduction of bounties and collection for zoos lead to the decline and eventual extinction of the thylacine in 1936.

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