‘The elephant has been a great device or armature for me to explore formal concerns. Changing from two-dimensional to three-dimensional and back and around in an almost cyclical fashion. I use it to experiment with, see what happens when I make it bigger, give it two heads, paint it or patinate it, etch the surface, extend the trunk to become something else – a flag pole perhaps. It’s a rack to hang an idea on.’ – Geoffrey Ricardo
‘Over three decades of creative practice the elephant, a much loved and revered creature, has become an engaging visual device for Geoffrey Ricardo, providing a continual focus for the development of his richly dark and potent imagery. What began as delicious scribbles and whimsical notations on intaglio plates, have resulted in a series of work depicting the elephant form supported by human figures draped in pantomime costume. Encouraging the absurd, Ricardo has extended the bizarre by showing the elephant helplessly swathed in patterned lightweight cloth, thereby creating a narrative garnered with pathos.
Increasingly dismayed by the destructive results of man’s drive to dominate nature, and a careless attitude towards the preciousness of the natural world, Ricardo implores man to be judicious in the decimation of elephants and other creatures, especially for something as inane as trinkets and potions. Ricardo enjoys references to the elephant in the common language, exploring themes such as: the elephant in the room, under the rug, the white elephant, elephants don’t forget, and elephant man.’
– excerpt from ‘Geoffrey Ricardo – Elephants’, by Caroline Field
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