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The Carrot and the Stick. This work was inspired by the earlier painting The Class Clown, from which this evolved. The figure who holds a clown puppet aloft describes how we present a ‘self’ to the world, that the way we interact with others is in some ways, a game. A figure walks across the picture plane, crossing paths with the seated figure. He holds a stick and a carrot, a trickster who can play both sides of the coin. The idea that we have choice in how we ‘see’ the world and what motivates us when we make a choice is illustrated by the two rabbits that rest on the foreground. One appears to be caged and the other is tempted by the carrot, yet wary of the stick. On the horizon is a drawing as if done by a child, of a house and a bird. The notion of home, safety that is often the underlying reason we make the choices we make.

Oil on canvas, 120 x 91cm, oil on linen