Original Artwork | Oil & Acrylic on Canvas | H 1220mm x W 915mm
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Featured Exhibitions:
Under 30s Eat Free (2025 - Solo Exhibition)
 
About the Artwork:
Thirty is inherently a comparative age; we begin to look at the generations before us and especially our contemporaries. Thirty is when we begin to see the results of the different paths taken in life: some people I went to school with remained in the Clare Valley, built trade businesses, worked on family farms, and are raising families; others moved abroad and studied and are now becoming doctors and business professionals. I chose to pursue a career in the film industry, which has given me a tactile and efficient range of skills and unique life experiences.
 
Film is a project-based industry, with the closest semblance of security being the rarely available crew work on long running soap operas like ‘Neighbours’ or ‘Home & Away’. This career operates in stark contrast of one of my other life goals - raising a family. I recently decided to reconnect with my family wine business to alleviate some uncertainties, but I fear I may have missed the window to find a mate with whom to manifest these goals alongside.
 
This artwork expresses these feelings dramatically. The child, a projection of what my own kids may look like, reaches for a mousetrap loaded with a chunk of cheese – a source of immediate gratification. They neglect the model 1970 Plymouth Superbird, a representation of a common desire to own a retro muscle or sports car – a goal that typically occurs later in life and requires forward thought and strategy to achieve. The child pre-emptively opens presents underneath mistletoe hung by a nefarious hangman’s knot, a symbol of love and connection taunted by demise.