I realise that yesterday I didn’t actually explain why I want to use a green background.

For some people, (many Australians and others who follow international sport) a gold kangaroo on a green background with boxing gloves symbolises the boxing kangaroo flag, sport and ‘team Australia’, fighting fair. From olympics.com.au/the-boxing-kangaroo:

The Boxing Kangaroo has a huge amount of self-confidence and epitomises the Australian fighting spirit. This unrelenting “have a go” Aussie spirit makes him hugely popular with all Australians.

BK is not a lout, nor is he aggressive or arrogant. He is, however, assertive when it comes to defending his country’s glory.

I don’t follow sport at all but I do know the flag. It’s the green and gold colours together that I find very Australian. I also find these two colours together a bit kitsch which is an aesthetic I like.

So next perhaps the audience notice that it is a male, very masculine kangaroo and that his gloves are off and hanging around his neck. He’s not fighting, defending or working but resting.

Then do they see the diamonds? The unfocused, empty looking eyes for seeing, the sharp claws and boxing gloves for fighting and the genitals - well I’ve already discussed their valued-by-the-male-they-are-attached-to importance in a previous post.

Then looking a bit closer they see the diamonds are attached by claws like jewellery, but these ones are sharp like the kangaroo’s claws or like a cat or any other animal with sharp claws used for drawing blood.

And there is the reflection of me in the body of the kangaroo, staring at his eyes and standing as strong as I possibly can, in front of the home we built together.

A proud symbol of Australia, turned sour.

This depiction of an Australian male is not meant to be flattering. It is meant to be a general observation of Australian macho masculinity. It is not my intention to offend Sporting Australia or anyone. I am concerned that I might offend many people with the green background and the gloves, but both are very important to the work so I’m not sure what to do about that.

Am I pushing it too far or am I worrying about nothing? With the text that accompanies this painting should I say anything else about it? So many questions turning in my mind.