'Zoo One Eleven' - Sharon Dawes

Following on from her very successful first solo exhibition 'Colonial Animal' held at emerge in June 2008, artist Sharon Dawes presents 'Zoo One Eleven', a painterly exploration into the 1898 opening of Perth Zoo. Using a 'Transcript of an Article in the West Australian' dated Monday 17th October 1898, Dawes re-creates the foundation animals of the Perth Zoo, in her own unique style. This new exhibition will thus include such varied species as Asian buffalos, lion, tigers, monkeys, ostriches, bears, Brahman bulls, wild boars, ducks, geese and her signature paintings of guinea pigs.

Drawing on personal experience Dawes imbues her work/animals with qualities that enhance the animal/art experience. Camels, for instance, are often painted using washes of paint which splatter against the canvas like camel spit; further enhancement comes through the use of oil pastels which give them a sand-like quality. The process of painting an animal is one that the artist describes as using specifically applied paint; paint that describes something distinctive about the animal. This makes her work truly rare in the field of animal painting and resulted in her last exhibition being referred to as 'excellent' by West Australian Art Critic Ric Spencer (20 June 2008).

Dawes work is conceptually well researched and the artist draws on the re-occurring themes of natural history illustration, transportation and re-location of species, the role of animals in modern society, local history, the collection of animals (or plants), anthropomorphism and stories/fables/nursery rhymes; often included on the canvas in the form of white text. Issues relating to the environment and the extinction of a species are always in the artist's mind but do not form an integral part of the work.

Essentially the work focuses on two basics, animals and paint quality; the combination of which makes for quirky, joyful and beautiful works that are deserving of attention; just like the animals she paints.