Humpback by Scott Listfield
Fine-art Giclée print on Italian cold-press watercolor paper
16 x 24 Inches
Limited Edition of 50
Limited Edition of 50
Signed & numbered
Printed with ♥ by Paragon Press
Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery
"Humpback" by Scott Listfield shines a spotlight on the devastating impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and desertification.
Artist Statement
"I made this painting last summer as part of a series of paintings for my first show in Australia, at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne. At the time I was thinking a lot about the fragile ecosystem of the Australian continent. It's a very dry country made up of a huge desert, surrounded by a ring of habitable land, which seems precarious giving rising global temperatures and increased desertification. Australia is also home to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world's great natural wonders, which is in a perilous state. And, of course, Australia is where Mad Max comes from. Which might include some truly badass car chase scenes, but is also, at its heart, is a parable about our love for gas and automobiles trumping our love for nature and humanity. Well, at least as I see it.
And so I was thinking about all of these things as I worked on a series of paintings all set in a dusty desert plain, with remnants of our civilization mixed in with the last stragglers of a once vibrant ecology. The recent brush fires in Australia happened a few months after I finished this series of paintings, and made them seem oddly prescient. I make paintings about the future - the future we think we're going to have, to future we're trying to avoid, and the future perhaps we'd most like to see. I think we're living in a moment where the future is still very open, but we're increasingly inching towards the point where it will be dictated for us. What I really hope I'm doing in my work is pointing out how beautiful this future could be, but also how sad and empty it might turn out if we don't take some responsibility for it soon."
And so I was thinking about all of these things as I worked on a series of paintings all set in a dusty desert plain, with remnants of our civilization mixed in with the last stragglers of a once vibrant ecology. The recent brush fires in Australia happened a few months after I finished this series of paintings, and made them seem oddly prescient. I make paintings about the future - the future we think we're going to have, to future we're trying to avoid, and the future perhaps we'd most like to see. I think we're living in a moment where the future is still very open, but we're increasingly inching towards the point where it will be dictated for us. What I really hope I'm doing in my work is pointing out how beautiful this future could be, but also how sad and empty it might turn out if we don't take some responsibility for it soon."
- Scott Listfield -
Artist Bio
Scott Listfield is known for his paintings featuring a lone exploratory astronaut lost in a landscape cluttered with pop culture icons, corporate logos, and tongue-in-cheek science fiction references. Scott grew up in Boston, MA and studied art at Dartmouth College. After some time spent living abroad, Scott returned to America and, shortly before the real life, non-movie version of the year 2001, began painting astronauts and, sometimes, dinosaurs.
Scott has been profiled in Juxtapoz, Wired Magazine, the Boston Globe, New American Paintings, and on at least one local television station. He has exhibited his work in Los Angeles, London, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Montreal, Boston, and many other nice places.
The Story Behind
Humpback
Scott Listfield
