Kevin Sloan

Recently I have been interested in early natural history art from the era now referred to as the Age of Discovery. From Maria Sibylla Merian in the 17th century to John James Audubon in the 19th century, many artists painstakingly and accurately illustrated the newly discovered natural world, giving their audience a scientific and aesthetic understanding of these new and exotic discoveries. Concurrent with the Age of Discovery was the idea of a Cabinet of Curiosities. In these rooms were housed a personal collection of things of wonder — many coming from the newly discovered natural world but also containing rare and extraordinary man-made objects.

My recent work is a continuation of the ideas of natural history art and the sense of wonder and curiosity created by the old Cabinets of Curiosities but with the contemporary addition of a narrative and poetic element. The natural world, now mostly understood and familiar is also sometimes threatened, making it more rare and exotic to me. Freed from the need to describe for science, I can describe the natural world through and allegorical, poetic and sometimes social and political lens.