In “Loot Bag,” exhibited last year at Seattle’s Roq La Rue, Martin Wittfooth depicts a pelican with its mouth stuffed. A doll, a toy elephant and a pig jumped out of the chaos, as if they were trying to escape. Soda cans, balloons, disposable cups and fast food make up most of the remaining items in the pelican’s beak, just like kitchen trash cans.
“We churned out a bunch of colorful, attractive things in a very instinctive way that would only be appreciated for a short period of time,” Witfoot said by phone. The New York-based artist refers to the way trash is scattered across the ocean—a “garbage explosion,” he says—causing huge environmental problems, such as the famous “Pacific Garbage Patch.” Pelican in Witford recalls animals trapped in man-made chaos. But this is only part of what he achieved in this painting.
Wittford creates another layer of meaning in the image by including animal-like toys. He called them “caricatures of things in nature.” He said they might prompt a reaction of “how cute”. It is a lovely part of nature that has no connection to the natural world itself and is a way to discover the beauty of natural animals without interacting with them.
The relationship between man and nature is reflected in Wittford’s work. His oil paintings feature animals as protagonists. The scenes he depicts are devoid of humans, but the remnants of their world often are. In “Aviary,” a cheetah perches in a cherry tree, surrounded by a few scattered birds. They overlooked a crumbling brick wall and glimpsed the city rising from below.
A similar situation occurs in Occupy, where a bull balances on a steel beam above the New York skyline. In “Harvester,” a bear is rummaging through a basket of flowers, with bits of trash scattered on the ground in front of him. In Pieta II, a tiger lies on top of a rusty car.
“At one point, I gave up on the human figure completely,” said Wittfooth, who featured on the 2011 Hi-Fructose cover. With animals, artists can tell a different kind of story. “When you see a painting with people in it,” he said, “it becomes their story, not your own subjective story.”
Whenever people are faced with the forces of nature doing what they do, the usual reaction is fear. “
