After last years sell out show in London, Perth raised painter Jonah Cacioppe returns to Perth for his first solo show at emerge ART SPACE. Following on from the London show, also titled Sex, Bombs & Bliss, Jonah has produced a body of work addressing the enduring themes of beauty, death and the sublime. Jonahs series of large semi-abstract oil paintings are taken from imagery of the night bombing of Baghdad (the Shock and Awe campaign of 2003), the work also draws on imagery from early nuclear bomb tests.
While researching for the show Jonah came across an interview with Robert Oppenheimer (director of the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear bomb), that reflects relationship between such opposites as death and creation, violence and awe. After the first nuclear bomb was tested Oppenheimer described the event:
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, and most people where silent, and then we read the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty and to impress him he takes on his multi armed form, and says; Now I am become Siva (Death) the destroyer of worlds. - I suppose we all thought that one way or another.
In hindu mythology Siva is the creator of this world and also its destroyer, Jonah was intrigued by how the same physics law that powered the sun and generated life could also be used to develop the most destructive weapon.
Cacioppes paintings juxtapose the horrors of war with the awe one feels when faced with such overwhelming force, they dont intend to glorify war but rather explore the sublime in contemporary experience.
Originally from Perth, Jonah studied painting at Curtin University and has a Masters of Studio Arts from Sydney College of the Arts, he also trained in London for several years and recently returned to Perth after several years abroad. He has exhibited extensively including London, Oxford, Perth, Sydney, Melbournes Metro 5 and is having his first solo show with the emerge ART SPACE.
