Fuel for Thought: oil, energy, conflict and art

Fuel for Thought: oil, energy, conflict and art

Vol 28 no 1, 2008


How are artists responding to peak oil, the search for alternative energy sources and conflict over resources? Artlink goes global in search of answers. The issue includes artists who have used alternative energy or whose work reflects the negative effects of an oil-based economy, with some powerful imagery by artists from the Middle East, East Timor, Iraq, the Philippines, Australia, California and Chicago. Burnt out petrol bowsers share the space with artwork which looks forward to a post-oil energy scenario. A video animation by Chinese artist Qiu Anxiong offers a profoundly moving experience on mankind's disastrous love affair with industrialisation. Australian artists include Charles Green and Lyndell Brown as official war artists in Iraq, as well as Alison Clouston, Zina Kaye, Madeleine Kelly, Carmel Wallace, Pamela Kouwenhoven and more. Editor Ian Hamilton.


Subscribe to Artlink - from $55. Subscriptions available for readers anywhere in the world.















NAVA - National Association for the Visual Arts











You are here » Artlink » Vol 28 no 1, 2008 » The error of our ways: Madeleine Kelly

The error of our ways: Madeleine Kelly

Author: Mr Timothy Morrell, feature

Brisbane-based artist Madeleine Kelly's oil paintings approach big issues through precise depictions of incongruous narratives which draw on both personal and mythological sources. Her comments on global issues like oil and pollution, human folly and its consequences, are framed like dream scenarios that touch us all. Kelly came to Australia from Germany when she was two and the celebrated 19th century German children's story Struwwelpeter written and vividly illustrated by Heinrich Hoffmann echoes in her imaginative paintings of cautionary tales and surreal spaces.



The full text of this article is only available in the printed version of Artlink Magazine.
» Subscribe or order a back issue

Article Index


Artlink wishes to acknowledge the copyright of the artists whose images appear on this website. Please note that images cannot be copied by users of this site and copyright remains with the artist or the rights holder at all times.