Needles. Ask anyone what their worst fear about going to the hospital may be, and chances are their reply will be a poignant attack towards the notion of having needles shoved into their veins. IV’s. Blood being drawn. Needles. The beneficial enemy of the health system; wrecking fear into the hearts of millions.

Including this writer. The aspect of having anything hypodermic inserted into my body elicits exorcist like tantrums to explode forth from my soul. Artist Caroline Green must have known this deep down when she forwarded her submission, leading with ‘Can You See Me Now’ from her upcoming Humanoid exhibition, opening October 5th. Needles are cautiously placed in the eyes of a rather calm female subject, half naked, while flies traipse around the canvas. A subtle smile creeps forth from the woman’s lips stirring an uncomfortable sense of wonder; why would you be happy to have needles in eyes?

A Tangled Dose

Green’s technical skills are luscious in creating an inviting texture for the viewer to fall into. Brush strokes flow into seamless colour transitions, while the choice of incorporating graffiti like stenciling as an inclusive street element is attractive. Her limited choice of saturated colours consisting of reds, greens and blues provoke an essence of a drug fueled hallucination; A Scanner Darkly thrusts into mind. Psychedelic nightmares on repeat.

Humanoid is a collection of brutally seductive paintings of humans traversing the medical landscape, with a sense of Rocky Horror Picture Show influences. As the viewer you see into the fears often associated with entering the walls of the medical havens of doctors, medicine, and clinical care. But there are undertones of erotica, the sexual perversity which lingers in the fantasy’s of us who long to play doctor – patient BDSM at home. I look at the works and imagine this is what my life would be on LSD right before I am admitted to have my appendix hacked out; playful sense of horror with a happy ending…

‘Can You See Me Now?’