brienna mclaughlin pruce - paintings
DESCRIPTION
Through my paintings, I hope to reinforce our connection to other living beings and remind us of the fragility of life. It is my hope that we recognize ourselves as the betta, and our world as a plastic cup.TRANSCRIPT
Brienna McLaughlin Pruce
http://brienna.net
Confinement
acrylic on canvas, 47" x 47"
2007
A crowntail displays its fins to fight a dead fish.
acrylic on canvas, 47" x 47"
2007
Their colors live outside their contained existence
acrylic on canvas, 35" x 47"
2007
Male and female betta
oil on canvas, 48" x 66"
2006
Betta fish are considered disposable items that can be checked out, returned (dead), and discarded much like cheap plastic toys.
Water dyed blue
oil on canvas, 47" x 47"
2006
Stacked to the ceiling
oil on canvas, 95" x 54"
2006
Fish are foreign, and we have difficulty feeling sorry for something other than ourselves.
oil on canvas, 54" x 190"
2007
Magnifying bettas to human scale and portraying their environment from a fish eye perspective provokes the question: what if that dying fish were me?
The beginning and the end
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Inside their world
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Bettas stored in picnic cups
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Prices on a blue tank
mixed media, 10" x 30"
2007
Isolated amidst many
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
The betta fish signify the trapped and suffering animals of the world.
Little living paintings
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
One empty tank
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Betta Tanks I
mixed media, 10" x 30"
2007
Betta Tanks II
mixed media, 10" x 30"
2007
Fish in glass bowls
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Fish in plastic cups
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
The betta is the overlooked, forgotten animal, merely appreciated for superficial aesthetic qualities; it represents all of our shallowness and pain.
Fish Eye VI
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2006
Fish Eye VIII
mixed media, 6" x 6"
2006
Fish Eye X
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Their existence is a plastic cup with barely enough water to survive.
Fish Eye XII
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Fish Eye XIII
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Fish Eye XIV
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Through my paintings, I hope to reinforce our connection to other living beings and remind us of the fragility of life.
The manager said, “Next time, call before visiting so I can move the betta fish into tanks because people often get upset by images of fish in cups.”
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
A child found a fish wedged between the tank dividers, dying.
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Someone asked, “Which one do you want to save?”
mixed media, 10" x 10"
2007
Our own living and working environments are not much better with apartments stacked sky-high and claustrophobic cubicles providing barely enough room to move.
acrylic on canvas, 95" x 54"
2007
It is my hope that we recognize ourselves as the betta, and our world as a plastic cup.