GONE
Isabella Kirkland, 2004
The sixty-three species painted in Gone have all become extinct since the mid-1800's and the colonization of the new world.
Isabella Kirkland's Taxa series are beautiful, intricate, large-scale indictments of humanity's destructive potential. Drawing stylistic cues from 17th and 18th century European still lifes, Kirkland's huge oil paintings depict species driven to extinction or near-extinction, introduced/invasive species, and illegally traded species.
GONE (detail)
Isabella Kirkland, 2004
Each of the paintings is accompanied by an outline key that identifies every species. The adorable yet extinct creatures featured in these detail shots of Gone are the orange-backed desert bandicoot and a green species of gecko (above) and the paradise parrot and laughing owl (below).
GONE (detail)
Isabella Kirkland, 2004
The level of detail in Kirkland's paintings is incredible - if you have the chance to see them in person, go. Her process is described on her website:
So far there are six paintings in this cycle depicting nearly 400 species. Almost every plant or animal is measured, photographed, drawn, and observed first hand, either live or from preserved materials. All are painted at life-size to ensure accuracy of scale. Each picture in this series has taken a year or more to complete, depending on the subject matter. The paintings explore how current biodiversity science can inform art-making and how art objects contribute to both political and scientific dialogues.
Ascendant
Isabella Kirkland, 2000
One of Kirkland's paintings appeared on the cover of E.O. Wilson's "The Future of Life," in which Wilson argues optimistically that we have both the power and the will to save what remains of the planet's biodiversity. But Kirkland's paintings seem more like reliquaries than battle standards. While art can move us to regret what has been lost, it remains unclear if art can move us to prevent future destruction.
Trade
Isabella Kirkland, 2001
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those are nice paintings.
I await Ms. Kirkland's series "Arrived" featuring all the species unknown in the mid-1800s and since discovered.
I suspect she will have to find a very large canvas.
A dedicated and remarkable painter; thanks for reminding me of her work.
Although it does make me tearful.
Lovely paintings. Thanks for posting them.
This reminds me of a couple of things: some paintings I saw of imagined creatures (I can't find now; if anybody has an idea of what I'm talking about, please let me know!) and Hieronymous Bosch's incredibly detailed work. Of course, his content was much different. :-)
Dear Jessica Palmer, Thank you for blogging about my work. I just came across it today, 2/23/09. I have a revised website up now that has pictures of the NOVA work thus far. It is a set of 4 pictures (#4 finished by this fall) of species new to western science. Each picture represents a different levels in a typical tropical rainforest. I call these "outdoor still lifes". The Nova pictures will be shown at Feature Inc in New York this fall '09. Then I will be on to a new project focused more on the fabric that makes up an ecosystem and less on cataloging. Hopefully the next cycle will show how the parts fit together (at a few exemplary sites) to make a functioning system. Again, many thanks for your support of my on-going work: one small effort toward making people aware of their responsibility for their own ecological footprint. Sincerely, Isabella Kirkland