Oil on Board
40cm x 81cm
‘Medusa’ in Greek mythology was a female creature having a head consisting of snakes, like the jellyfish representing something so beautiful but tentacles so venomous. Unrestraint and restraint come and work together.

My inspiration for this body of work comes from the illustrations of nineteenth century German zoologist and philosopher, Ernst Haeckel. He identified the interplay of biology and art in art forms and nature, in which his sinuous jellyfish transcend nature and approach a liquid otherworldliness.
I layered these images over antique graph paper to evoke a sense of nostalgia, and to contrast the amorphous forms of the jellyfish with the artificial pattern of repeating squares. By layering and abstracting the images, the aim is to create a sense of creatures morphing into each other, becoming and unbecoming in an endless dance. The clash of natural forms against an implacable manmade background is also evoked in the use of bright colours over the subdued linear tones of the graph paper.
With this work I want to capture something permanent and tangible in a world that's constantly moving.