Mastery Of Life

Mastery of Life is a body of work representing Gillmore’s on-going interest in text as image, and how words can alter meanings located within more conventional, figurative imagery. The complexities and nuances of inter-personal relationships, a main exploration of Gillmore’s work is seen here. Supplied with used ledger paper to draw on as a child from his accountant father, these same ledger ‘sketch books’ are the backdrop for the imagery sourced from children’s books of the same era. The playfulness of images subverted by the nature of the accompanying text, prevents them from being, simply - pretty pictures.

Imagine the sounds of laughter on the playground co-mingling with singing birds in a perfectly blue sky, unaware of the looming storm brewing on the horizon... It is within the meaning of the text in relation to the image, that the narrative tension is produced. Here we see the feeling of irreverence and humour in play, between word and image - Can a 'Mastery Of Life' really be obtained during an all girl pillow fight? Is 'Better Living Through Chemistry' a hopeful possibility, as children appear to be evaporating before our eyes while engaging in a game of Ring Around The Rosie? A virginal and ghostly Snow White in another piece asks- 'Why Am I So Evil?'. No one really knows.