God Complex

The landscape here is based on a photo I took in Egypt in 2001, in the eastern area of the country close to the Red Sea.

The theme behind this work is of megalomania and the delusion of believing oneself to be a god. In this case this delusion is exemplified by the central figure of the trio of figures on the right side of the painting. This figure is of the Emperor Domitian and is based on a naked, gilded statue of him in the guise of Hercules. He is dressed, in this case, in the armour of what may belong to a Primus Pilus (chief centurion of a legion) of the Praetorian Guard. To either side of Domitian are Praetorisn Guards based on a famous bad-relief.

The figure on horseback is based on an equestrian statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, though in this case I turned him into Gaius Julius Caesar. The figure on the left is of the Roman Emperor Augustus and is based upon the famous Prima Porta statue.

High quality Art Spectrum oil paints used on a custom-made, triple-primed canvas.
Ready to hang with strong wire/d-rings on the back.

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Jeremy Elkington has been painting since 1995 and in 2002 achieved his Masters of Visual Arts (By Research) at Monash University. Since 1997 Jeremy has been exhibiting his work in group and solo exhibitions and regularly submitting his work in an array of art prizes across Australia. In 2009 he won 'Best Australian Landscape' at the Herald Sun Rotary Club of Camberwell Art Show and in both 2018 and 2022 was a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize. At the core of much of Jeremy's artwork (especially in larger paintings) are desert landscapes, the ancient world (particularly Ancient Rome), ornament and abstraction. From 1997 to 2011 Arabic ornament and architectural elements (as well as the desert landscape) had been explored. Desert landscapes remain but Arabic art had been superseded by the armour, weaponry, ornament, architectural elements and sculpture of Ancient Rome. Within such works Jeremy aims to evoke a sense of the hidden narrative, the epic, the surreal, the ornamental, the archaic as well as beauty. Since 2013 Jeremy has also explored abstraction, abstract-expressionism, silhouettes, the Gothic, portraiture (particularly influenced by the work of Francis Bacon) space and depictions of film scenes. Jeremy has also been producing drawings whose range of subject matter reflects that within his paintings but, at times, has explored pattern and ornament to an intense degree.
Jeremy has sold artwork across Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA.