John Stark Painting

I like the series, "We used to have faces" by John Stark - a lot of his work combines landscapes reminiscent of the Northern Renaissance with imagery or narrative one might expect on the album cover of a metal band (often just a brutal).

Stark says, "The paintings themselves are reflections of a doomed world and metaphors for a 'utopia' that religion and politics have continually promised us and failed to deliver..."

The Apiary, 2008, 60 x 50cm, Oil on oak panel

November, 2008, 50 x 41cm, Oil on oak panel

Untitled, 2008, 50 x 41cm, Oil on oak panel

Most of his work is not as brightly colored as the "We used to have faces" series - in fact a lot of his work reminded me of the ash-covered landscapes in the Terminator movie we saw last night. After the movie my wife eloquently described the film as if "someone took off the top of my skull and scrambled my brains with a handi-blender" - needless to say it was a little too much action.

John Stark, The Pack, 2007, 45 x 36cm, Oil on panel

Still from Terminator: Salvation