JOSHUA BONSON - SKIN - MOVING THROUGH MONOCHROME
JOSHUA BONSON
SKIN - MOVING THROUGH MONOCHROME, 2025
40.5 x 30.5 cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on board
REGION
Torres Strait Islands/Darwin, NT
PROVENANCE
Direct from the artist, Cairns, Qld
Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art], Gadigal (Sydney, NSW)
STORY
‘SKIN- Moving through Monochrome showcases my totem The Saltwater Crocodile and the land thatwe are from; The Northern Territory, The Torres Strait and Far North Queensland. An emotional andmeaningful work teaming with texture, exuberant detail while touching on themes of identity, belonging, enduring associations to place and connection to cultural roots.’
The Saltwater Crocodiles scaly cover; up close and personal in such close proximity that the viewercan see the individual scales of the skin texturally rendered for close scrutiny. The armoured skin iscleverly shown by building up the serrations of paint, creating an element of flow, scaled perfectionapplied layer by layer with brushes, pallet knives and bare hands generously floating on waterysurfaces. ‘I want the viewer to feel the presence of the reptile, run their hands across its skin’.
Bonsons work captures the essence of the reptiles natural casing through his unique painterly stylethat is largely monochromatic and abstractly expressionistic. The scales of the Saltwater Crocodileare his own personal totem and his close up inspection of this aspect of the animal can be interpretedas a landscape seen from a great distance and up close of rocks, water and sand – a terrainharvested from both the Northern Territory, where he was born and The Torres Strait where he rootshis heritage.
The close – up investigation of its scaly skin becomes his method of putting in place theaffiliations that define his very own skin. By getting the viewer up close to The Saltwater Crocodile’sskin, Bonson enables the audience to know its strength, and see the country from where it came,where he comes from too.
EXHIBITED
SKIN - Moving through Monochrome, August 2025, Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art]
ARTIST PROFILE
