Sometimes, massive leeches are simply just that: massive, gross, disconcerting leeches. Melbourne-based artist Beau White crafts oil paintings that may appall or at the very least, unsettle viewers. But he says that his love of “illustrating absurd, grotesque and distastefully humorous images” goes way back to his primary school days. But in general, there aren’t lofty statements to be made in these works.
“There is nothing particularly philosophical about my art in the conceptual sense,” White says, in a statement. “There are themes and narratives that are relatively simple and obvious, with the main focus being on the ridiculous. I don’t have a grand vision or statement I want to make through art, I just want to draw and paint silliness and weirdness in various forms for my own gratification and anyone else with similar inclinations. Although I steer away from taking the subject matter in my work too seriously, I do spend a serious amount of time, consideration and mental exertion on my creative process. That’s where I derive the most meaning in my art: in the doing, not the discussion that follows.”
It’s still fun to attempt to create a viewer’s own narrative from his images of massive leeches and grotesque situations. Even if in the end, the act of creating was where the demons are exercised.