The Street

Kings Cross

Beneath the Malebolge lies Hastings street

The province of the pimp upon his beat

Where each in his little world of drugs or crime

Drifts hopelessly, or hopeful, begs a dime

Wherewith to purchase half-a-pint of piss

Although he will be cheated, even in this

I hope, although I doubt it, that God knows

This place where chances blossom like the rose

For each face is such a hard despair 

That nothing like grief finds entrance there.

And on this scene from all excuse exempt

The mountains gaze in absolute contempt.

Yes this, yet this is Canada, my friend

Yours to absolve of ruin, or make an end

Malcolm Lowry

As a younger artist I was interested in confronting the audience with images that they chose to ignore.  Using street scenes I hoped to arouse the conscience of the viewer.  Fascinated by city life I travelled to Hastings Street and Kings Cross to draw images of humanity loaded with emotional sentiment rendered in raw experience.  I found etching useful in this enterprise.  Acid, the printing press, tar, wax, and gouging into metal all seemed appropriate ways of depicting life on "the other side of the tracks."

"Three Men in and Alley"

The idea of cramming dozens of figures amidst a decaying urban-scape created out of the apocalyptic tradition that flowed from Pirenese was a challenge for me as an artist. Implicit in the pictures is how we as figures mingle within the environment and so the stage is entwined with the players.  Furthermore, the pieces, within an apocalyptic frame, were infused with a religious subtext.  This was particularly evident in the print "Dream" where the tilting church symbolizes a failure on the part of orthodoxy to meet the challenges "humanity."  in this sense I was particularly influenced by the words and example of Arch Bishop Romero as he reached out to the poor by announcing the fate of church (but all of us) is bound to the fate of the people (all people).

"Dream"

Today as I read these words I realize it is time to return to the street motif.  We are, in Victoria, faced with the a growing homeless population as a reflection of the cumulative effect of failed policy and our own moral neglect over the past decade.  Morality being the transition between the apocalypse and contemporary failure, I return to these images as a depiction of our social reality, and as a means of depicting an immediate and frank glimpse of humanity.

"Birdman and Angel"