The Meaning of our Artwork

An ArchiBULL, that is actually a cow, that is actually a sheep…?

Let me explain......

The Meaning of our Artwork

What were we going to do? Considering that this is our first year ever of the Archibull competition, I suppose you could say that we were slow to get off the mark, and somewhat naïve to the task that was before us.

After nearly three weeks of careful planning and thought, we came up with our final idea for the cow. To paint it ‘au-naturale’. It would look just like a normal brown cow with Australia shaped cut out patterns. But, our idea didn’t stop there. That would be too simple.

We wanted our entry to be immediately recognisable as representing the Wool industry in Australia, quite a challenge when it is in the form of a giant cow!

But, wait. Remember those cut-out Australia’s I mentioned? Well, they aren’t JUST Australia’s. They have been cut out specially so as not to appear too obvious. They are ambiguous ‘blotchy’ images at first and would resolve into the shape of Australias when viewed from different angles. They have been drawn at unique and ‘skewed’ angles so that they don’t jump out at you at first. If, however, you look at it from the right angle, it will look like a normal Australia - genius. So, when you see our cow in real live, make sure you take a good look.

The saying, “Australia rides on the sheep’s back” is famous among all Australians, so, we thought, ‘Why not embrace this famous saying by portraying it on our cow?’. This would be brought into the viewers mind through reversing the idea so the cow represents Australia (all the Australian shaped wool cut-outs) and the wool bale represents (hopefully obviously) the Australian wool industry. We also wanted to honour the rich history of the wool industry in Australia at the same time. Australia has ‘ridden on the sheep’s back’ for over 100 years, and we thought that this was a very important point to portray.

Drawn and painted on the side of the wool bale are pictures of the wool industry (to further re-enforce) the role that farmers play in our everyday lives. The images are all done in a sepia tone reminiscent of olde style photographs. This is to emphasise the historical aspect of the wool industry. The edges of the images fade into the wool bale almost like dream images that are being conjured up in the collective mind of Australians. We wanted to portray not only the past but also contemporary and future wool industry practices, dreaming a dream of a bright future.

Yes, this is our first year of Archibull and we definitely have a lot to learn. That isn’t to say, however, that we haven’t learned a lot! Painting the cow, creating the blog and editing the video were all very interesting projects that have led to increased understanding of the Agricultural industry in Australia. Thank you, Archibull, for this great opportunity! We hope you like our cow!