Neil Thompson

Artist statement.

"If anything is surreal or slightly odd I am almost always drawn to it. I hope this shows in my artwork ... most of my paintings and sketches are quirky and whimsical. I like to create a narrative with my work, and my bee range in particular captures this".

In these images we see the almost personification of the bees, the bees are seen looking at the moon on a rock island. This image is showing the romantic connection between these two bees, but anyone with a small amount of knowledge knows most bees are male and the queen bees are much larger than the average worker bee. Could this image have a deeper meaning, showing a homosexual relationship between these two bees that have found peace with each other in solitude away from the hive. Using bees to bring up other issues is rather fascinating and this could be something to explore within my own practice. Bringing a fresh new look into other wildlife issues or even expand the political impact of my work.

In the image above we see a figure holding a bee in a very maternal pose. The image makes you question is this image about the figure wanting to protect and nurture the bee or is it about how the human species removes wildlife from its own environment and portrays a false sense of connection and love between an animal who should be in the wild. I have this worry in my mind when I have been creating my own images, I want to maintain a level of sincerity within my images but I also want the viewer to be very aware that this is an unnatural composition and the images shouldn't or wouldn't exist within human interaction