Doug Heslop

My practice oscillates between performative social critique and abstract expressionism. I’m interested in questioning power structures and long-held beliefs, disrupting dominant narratives and challenging hegemony. Playfulness and dark humour are used as tools to explore contemporary issues, irreverently combining the Western art canon with low-brow culture and intuitive exploration. Moving between mediums, I strive to make work that exposes the truth of things while cheering myself up through artistic play. As a neurodivergent person, I move between introvert and extrovert, needing moments to be overwhelmed, and also quiet times for reflection and wonder. These polarities of existence, a complex personal history and a keen sense of justice, inform my work and sustain my drive for creation.

At the back of the Kandos Pub, in a giant cage, you’ll find Bubba. We’re not quite sure what Bubba is, or where it came from. Some say its mother was shot by hunters, deep in the Wollemi. Other claim it was found, injured and bewildered after the Kandos Quarry blasted a cliff face, collapsing the cave in which the creature was sheltering. My Nanna’s cousin says he found it tangled in a net in the swamp Ganguddy. Whatever the truth of it, it was so long ago, people have forgotten all about it.