ANTHROPOCENE COLLECTION — CLAIRE MILNER ART

A visual language speaking for the climate, nature and her wild creatures

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ”

— John Muir

ANTHROPOCENE XTINCTION COLLECTION (2018)

A collection of paintings highlighting the unnatural pressures inflicted on the natural world by humanity. Bringing together many elements of Holocene Twilight and True Value, the monochromatic panels highlight potential irreversible loss, and the crystal mosaic cross on the faces of the principal animals, at once highlights a sense of preciousness and jeopardy.

ALLEGORIES OF IDENTITY COLLECTION (2016 - 2017)

A collection influenced by historical paintings and sculpture in a convergence of classical, modern and contemporary imagery. Taking strong female figures in mythology as a starting point and considering the animal world and contemporary fashion as a means of expression and identity, the compositions reflect and set the mood for the couture in the manner of a surrealist film set. The female subjects are a combination of statuary and world citizen, free of racially defining features. They simultaneously look to the past and present in referencing contemporary gender equality issues. Some of the works are influenced by the paintings of Gaugin and Rousseau but focus on the ‘female gaze’. The women who populate these paintings confront the viewer, challenging the subjectivity of the depictions of women in art history. The ocean painting in this collection is entitled The Physical Impossibility Of Captivity In The Mind Of Someone Free (2017), it features Andromeda breaking free from her chains juxtaposed with the electrical symbol of resistance. Both the encapsulated shark and the title make reference to Damien Hirst’s work, but the play on the title is also co-opted to allude to the crisis of worldwide migration and conflict. All of the compositional elements are underwater suggesting a climate change apocalypse in a world of opposites represented by water and electricity.

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IMAGE INFORMATION:

Featured

'SYMBIOSIS'

Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Selected for two curated collections on Saatchi Art by chief curator Rebecca Wilson. 2018 1ST ARTSLANT Prize Showcase Winner. Featured in Musings, Entity, Ethical Hedonist, Oceanic Global and Investible Oceans.

The work focuses on several species of flamingo, the most threatened being the Andean Flamingo, which is represented in black and white. Of equal importance and under threat are the mangrove forests. These critical and complex ecosystems are among the most productive and biologically complex on earth. Their loss could prove catastrophic in terms of climate change due to their importance as carbon storage assets. The ghostly female figure is an allegorical reminder that our future is inherently bound up with our treatment of the earth’s natural resources.

Mangroves and coral reefs have a symbiotic relationship – the reef protects the coast where the mangroves grow from being eroded by the sea, and the mangrove forest traps sediment washed from the land that would otherwise smother the reef. In the same way, this painting has a symbiotic relationship with 'Ocean Rainforest' depicting sea turtles amongst a coral reef.

'OCEAN RAINFOREST'

Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Winner of the Artivism Challenge with prints exhibited during Art Basel Miami. The competition utilised the visual arts to raise awareness about six critical issues impacting our ocean. The judges included Susan Rockefeller, Dustin Yellin, Aaron Levi Garvey, Doumi Busturia, Alexandre Arrechea and Zaria Forman.
Selected for two curated collections on Saatchi Art by chief curator Rebecca Wilson. Featured in Musings, Entity, Ethical Hedonist, Oceanic Global and Investible Oceans.

This painting focuses on several species of sea turtle, one of the Earth’s most ancient creatures who have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. No other group of vertebrates is facing a cloud of extinction quite like turtles with nearly half being imminently threatened. The critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle, which is less migratory and more reef-associated, is represented in black and white. In some places around the world coral reefs have been entirely destroyed, while in others they are a shadow of what they once were. Nearly 90% of our reefs could be gone by 2050, eradicating a global source of food and livelihood worth an estimated $1 trillion if nothing is done to protect one of the most bio diverse ecosystems on the planet. The ghostly female figure representing the source of water is an allegorical reminder that our future is inherently bound up with our treatment of the earth’s natural resources.

'NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING'

Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Allegorical painting about the distinction between predator and prey. Sharks are apex predators and yet they are continually threatened by humans through actions such as finning, habitat loss and the destruction of reefs

'MIGRATION OF THE DISPLACED' (PRIVATE COLLECTION, LONDON).

Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Selected for three curated collections on Saatchi Art and Best of April 2021 collection by chief curator Rebecca Wilson. Featured in The Curator’s Salon, The Flux Review, Yorkshire Living, Musings, Entity, Ethical Hedonist, Oceanic Global and Investible Oceans.

Allegorical mixed media work about displacement and loss. The monochromatic panel highlights irreversible loss and memories of things long gone. The crystal mosaic X on the face of the principal animal at once highlights its preciousness and draws attention to its fate. The work focuses on the Grevy’s Zebra featured in the monochromatic panel, which is the most threatened of the three species of zebra, assessed as Endangered with a population reduction of 54% over the past three generations to a current population of about 2,680 individuals. Of equal importance and under threat are rainforests where this scene is set and not on their native Ethiopian and Northern Kenyan habitat. This underscores the involuntary migration metaphor, representing both the fragility of the migratory Grevy’s Zebra and alluding to the vulnerability of the migration of any displaced being. As climate change intensifies, so too will the battle for earth’s resources and the need for many to find shelter as migrants displaced from their own homes. The addition of the crouching ghostly female figure serves as a reminder that our own future is inherently bound up with our treatment of the earth’s natural resources.

'FISSION FUSION'

Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Selected for a curated collection of ‘Statement Pieces’ on Rise Art in October 2021. Selected for a featured collection on Saatchi Art by chief curator Rebecca Wilson. Featured in Ethical Hedonist.

Giraffes are usually found in groups, traditionally the composition of these groups has been described as open and ever-changing. Giraffes were thought to have few social bonds and for research purposes, a 'group' has been defined as 'a collection of individuals that are less than a kilometre apart and moving in the same general direction.' More recent studies have found that giraffes do have long-term social associations and may form groups or pairs based on kinship, sex or other factors. These groups may regularly associate with one another in larger communities or sub-communities within a fission–fusion society

'IGNARUS VANITAS'

Oil on canvas. 20 x 20 inches (50cm x 50cm) 2019

Allegorical painting relating to the cause and effect of all actions.

"Claire Milner’s artwork is staggeringly beautiful.. a beguiling woman riding an elephant. But upon closer inspection, it’s clear all is not well in these worlds—the elephant is in chains… Climate change, poaching, and loss of habitat are forcing already endangered animals into extinction. And that’s just what Milner wants us to think and talk about—and then take action." Musings Magazine

'CAUSE AND EFFECT'

Oil on canvas. 60cm x 85cm 2019

Allegorical painting focusing on climate change and the interconnectedness of all life on earth.

'WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?'

Oil on canvas. 60cm x 85cm 2019

Influenced by the paintings of Gaugin and Rousseau. Recurring motifs include the peacock as an allegory of vanity and camera phone, posed for a ‘selfie’ but warning of the effects of human activities. The palette of earth colours contrasts with grisaille panels depicting crises for the planet.

'BEFORE THE FALL'

Acrylic on canvas. 60cm x 85cm 2019

Allegorical painting focusing on climate change and the interconnectedness of all life on earth.

'MNEMOSYNE: THE LAMP OF MEMORY'

(After Dante Gabriel Rossetti). Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2016

Featured in After Nyne and WideWalls.

The painting features Mnemosyne with the lamp of memory juxtaposed with fading images of elephants and includes allegorical references to politics and the environment.

'ARTEMIS, LANDSCAPE OF A MIND: PREDATORY MANOEUVRES'

(After Leochares and Modigliani). Oil on canvas. 35.5 X 35.5 inches (90 X 90 cm). 2016

Featured in After Nyne and WideWalls.

The painting features Artemis 'Goddess of the Hunt' and includes allegorical references about the distinction between predator and prey, feminism, politics and the environment.

'THE PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF CAPTIVITY IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE FREE'

(After Tamara De Lempicka, Domenico Guidi and Damien Hirst). Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 39.5 inches (100cm x 100cm) 2017

Featured in Oceanic Global and Investable Oceans.

The painting features Andromeda 'Ruler of Men' juxtaposed with the electrical symbol of resistance and includes allegorical references to female empowerment, politics and the environment.