Conrad Botes

Cain and Abel

Conrad Botes' Cain and Abel is a reflection on the origins of violence, a return to the very first tale of murder as related in the Bible and Qu'ran. A gritty black and white comic first published in Bitterkomix is reworked as a series of 15 reverse-glass painted panels. In Crime and Punishment, horned male figures, their bodies inscribed with symbols, are seen to worship a lofty female figure. A series of generic portraits of men is titled Hostile Territory. There is a pervasive atmosphere of violence, horror, grit, a feeling the artist describes as 'like shrapnel under the skin'. The catalogue includes powerful new writing by Stacy Hardy which takes the works as its springboard.

Published by Michael Stevenson | Catalogue 40, January 2009
Softcover, 36 pages | Unavailable