Robert Bateman on art and environment

On Jan. 27, renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman delivered a public lecture on the relationship between his art practice and his passion for environmentalism at UVic’s Legacy Gallery. His talk was presented in association with the exhibition Honoris Causa, featuring work by recipients of honorary degrees from UVic.

Bateman, who received a UVic honorary degree in 2003, prefaced his remarks by saying, “I have a lot of opinions—as you will see.”

He admitted that he really does not know what effects artists have on environmental consciousness, and that he creates the art he does simply because he wants to.

Bateman is clearly passionate about environmental issues, however, and this came across when he spoke of his involvement in efforts to save the Carmanah rainforest. Located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, this forest was in danger of being logged over a decade ago.

Bateman described the Carmanah forest as a cathedral, with the loudest sound in the background being that of chainsaws. As a form of protest, a large group of artists camped in the area and inspired the media to get involved. Bateman says, “we shamed the government, and by George we saved it! Now our children can visit the south Carmanah.”

A book based on this story, Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest, to which Bateman contributed two paintings, was published in 1990. Likening the threat to Carmanah to the idea of corporations tearing down Notre Dame in Paris for apartment complexes, Bateman insisted that, “Just because it’s money and jobs doesn’t mean we have to destroy our heritage.”

He also spoke about his involvement with Artists for Nature, an international organization that uses the work of artists to promote appreciation of nature as an essential element of sustainable development. Through this organization he has travelled to places such as Poland and Spain, painting, observing endangered birds and taking in the architecture.

Indicating his 1993 painting Driftnet—portraying a Pacific white-sided dolphin and a Laysan albatross trapped in a net—hanging on the gallery wall, he told the audience that he considers it to be, in some ways, his most important work. [www.robertbateman.ca/paintings/Driftnet.htm]

Comparing his work to other contemporary art, Bateman showed slides of exhibits from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Commenting on images of Venetian blinds on a floor and of a white spray-painted circle on a floor he laughed, “What is in now is lack of talent.”

As he concluded, however, Bateman expressed faith and hope in new, young and passionate artists.

He slowly read to the audience a quote from US author Willa Cather, “What was any art but an effort to make a sheath, a mold in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself?”

This quote rings true for a new generation of artists who are once again, he feels, “painting from the heart, from what they see with their eyes in the world around them. I think that art is still going on and has never been healthier that it is today.”

The exhibition Honoris Causa closes March 9, after which Driftnet will be donated to the Bateman Foundation, which supports educational programs to promote lifelong engagement with nature. It will be displayed in the foundation’s new home, opening in mid-May in the previous Royal London Wax Museum building beside the Inner Harbor.

More information on the Bateman Foundation: http://batemancentre.org/about-us