“Oh, that poor cow!” I was standing on the other side of a display wall when I heard this comment. It was in response to a painting I had submitted for the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award in 2007. I had painted a cow with blood gushing from her throat and milk squirting from her udders onto the ground and mixing together. It was a literal depiction of a cow suffering as a product both during her life and death. This painting was perhaps my first animal rights picture.

I returned to animal rights art when doing an MFA at Massey University in 2013. My research revealed that others had used representational methods in their depiction of animals. By this time, I had moved into an abstract non-figurative way of making, so I was looking for answers in this direction. There were many examples of abstract work engaging with socially conscious art. Often the artists used the material culture from their area of interest, and reinterpreted it – colours, products, shapes, now took on new meaning. My chosen approach was specifically geometric. I was already familiar with making art using systems and deductive reasoning from previous artworks that investigated the grid format. I used this as a starting point. I took as my  reference the material culture of the agricultural industry and integrated this with the geometry associated with fences, cages, and chemical codes.

Geometric Art can and has been used to promote political propaganda. It can also engage with ideas of purity and spirituality. It has even been used solely for its graphic impact. It is intriguingly contradictory to assume embedded meaning into colours and materials, then also want to use them simply for their aesthetic value. ‘Solace and Pleasure’ was the title of my previous exhibition, and this personal relationship to the push and pull of making still holds true for me. Colour is a great way of looking at this: inviting, joyful, spiritual, grounded, energetic, peaceful, harmonious, these may be feelings that we get from the colours of a sunset, sunrise, or a rainbow. The same colours, have symbolic references to animal management, control, death, scabs, puss, and toxic chemicals. They also have formal properties that exist on products simply to catch the eye - a purple next to a yellow.

This exhibition has two questions in mind. The first, is it possible to embrace the push and pull conflict of making abstract art that is both formally aesthetic while also socially relevant. Strangely one of the main reasons why I wanted to move in this direction was because of the many interpretations that are possible, as this deflects the direct statement that, using animals for human gain is speciesist. However, does this sensitivity prioritise the viewers pleasure? How we treat animals is indicative of who we are as humans. It highlights our true moral and ethical nature. Who doesn’t want to be the best human they can be? Should the work then be more forthright, honest, and straight up as to what is intended? The depiction of ‘The Cow’ painting comes to mind. Or should it be pushing the boundaries of interpretation?

The second question: why is it important to highlight animal rights issues? Climate change and its environmental effect on humans is now everyday news. Our continued reliance on animal agriculture is only increasing the environmental harm to our planet. It is more important than ever before to look deeply at the impact of our relationship with animals. How can Art best make a contribution to this discussion?

David grew up and went to school in Tauranga, New Zealand. Having a deep interest in human culture, he studied both Ancient History and Anthropology at the University of Auckland, graduating with an MA in Anthropology in 1997. After graduating and teaching English in Japan for a period, he moved to England working as an archaeologist from 2001 until returning to New Zealand in 2006, to pursue his art career. The life experience gained from his time abroad has been fundamental in laying the foundations for his future art practice.

In 2014, he graduated with an MFA from Massey University. That same year he won the Wellington Regional Art Award with an abstract animal-rights-themed geometric painting. He received a merit in the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award in 2015 and has been short listed on numerous occasions for the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award, Parkin Drawing Prize, Wellington Regional Art Award and the Wallace Art Award. His art practice includes both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional work, and large-scale public artworks/murals within the Wellington area. He is interested in combining geometric art with the animal rights debate. We are all animals – why do human animals treat non-human animals unequally?