The Mastodon’s Natural History

2021   22”h, 30”w, gouache and watercolour

A natural history museum complete with a mastodon skeleton is reinvented for the world of a continuing, episodic pandemic. The external space becomes internal to allow for plenty of ventilation and to imagine these megafauna in their original habitat. While the chinoiserie background may represent wallpaper, it could also be an idealized view of what is outside the window; the outside might be beautiful and inviting, or it might be too toxic for humans. The mastodon is stepping off its pedestal to become part of the environment. The ground is made of collaged images of archeological debris, replicating successive layers of civilization.

• Gouache
• Watercolour