The city of Paris during the reign of Napoleon III underwent massive changes due, in part, to the migration of hordes of rural workers into the city as a result of the industrial revolution. Artists such a Eduard Manet witnessed these changes and depicted them in their art. According to a recent Four Corners episode on the ABC, Victoria's population grew by one million in the 10 years to 2016. I'm not sure if this transformation is the motivation behind the painting below, but it may have been.
The Roar Of The Approaching Night Oil On Canvas 75 cm x 150 cm
Nowhere is this transformation more evident than in the docklands area on the west side of Melbourne's Spencer Street where an entirely new central business district seems to be evolving housing, so it seems, a new class of the upwardly mobile.
Melbourne's Docklands today
Presumably, recreation for these residents would involve visiting the various restaurants and other attractions of the inner city, or jetting off interstate or overseas, rather than hopping in the car for a picnic in the countryside which, lets face it, would take all day to get there, given the suburban sprawl.
West of Spencer Street viewed from Transport House, 1985
Another motivation for my painting could be my brief and disastrous return to the workforce in 2008, when I discovered the recent trends to toxic working environments to be a reality, not a myth. Anyway, Melbourne is a city in flux that I have trouble recognising, and this painting is intended to represent my increasing alienation from it. The title of the painting is a line from the song "Tender Is The Night" by Jackson Browne.