Dangerous Utopia
Artist's Statement about the series Dangerous Utopia
My invented wonderland depicts a sensuous dream world which offers a vision of Arcadia, idyllic and yet shadowed by the awareness of decay and the precarious balance between innocence and experience. In the series Dangerous Utopia I explore the paradox of the persistence and danger of hope. I am inspired by my backyard garden with its tiny dramas of beauty and cruelty, its flowers, insects, birds, and frogs where the world is transformed by the heightened awareness of the reality of a butterfly's wing, and a connectedness to all of life's hidden mysteries. With our wild optimism in Spring and all metaphorical new beginnings, we yearn for utopia. It is nevertheless difficult for us to trust joy. It is why the poets call April the cruelest month... for surely life is full of possibilities but also many disappointments.... a cycle of growth and decay.
- Rene Lynch, 2011
