RED RHINO

Lynda Mason, United States

An introvert with a child-like imagination and an obsession with animals, I learned to escape into a world of my own creation where stuffed animals and model horses came to life. This love for animals began in childhood when I started drawing and riding horses and continued in my studies of zoology and veterinary medicine. My anthropomorphized animal portraits show animals typing, texting, taking selfies, and eating junk food at their workspaces. Superficially, these funny animal portraits seem sweet, wrapped in a sugar coating of childhood innocence, introversion, and shyness. But underneath that protective candy coating, an imagination is running wild, with an urgent message about conservation, consumerism, and conformity. The tenuous relationship between natural and artificial worlds is showcased as animals are immersed into man-made worlds. The thick, visceral brushstrokes applied under high pressure are unapologetically raw, producing a feeling of naïve dreaminess. Introspective, strange, and sweet, they may first make you laugh, but then make you think.