ROA

Melbourne

His artwork has taken him across the world, and his massive and haunting murals featuring native fauna have made him one of this decade’s leading street artists. ROA is an artist but at heart he’s also a zoologist and an explorer. His passion is derived from the study and the understanding of the animals he encounters. He may be seen as the poetic conclusion to the nineteenth century explosion of scientific discovery – a time when Linnaeus, Darwin, et al entertained intellectual Europe with zoological discoveries, pristine environments and unimagined animals.

However, in the twenty first century, the message is a somber one. ROA’s work documents the tenuous cohabitation of animal and man within the new environment left in the the wake of discovery. With subtle naivety, elegance and a style reminiscent of early natural history illustrations, ROA superimposes massive depictions of indigenous animals on walls, each one being a story of death and survival. Creatures perhaps acting as martyrs for the worlds which lay long forgotten at the foundations
of our cities.

This friction between man, animal, civilisation and nature is the focal point for ROA’s current exhibition at Backwoods Gallery titled Carrion.

Backwoods Gallery

November 30th – December 18th, 2012
25 Easey St
Collingwood VIC 3066
Australia

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