Analgesic Field (for Turner)

On my travels around the north of Tasmania I see the production of fifty per cent of the world’s pharmaceutical opiates. I think of pain and dark times. I think of Tasmania’s current exotic status, as an analgesic island, exporting its poppy straw panacea. This series of painting draws from a story about Turner, who on seeing a Constable painting (with a lot of red in it) that he regarded as superior to his own, decided to do something about it…