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Shaun Tan - "Never Leave the Backdoor Open Overnight" - oil on canvas
Never Leave the Backdoor Open Overnight
Oil on canvas by Shaun Tan (2012).
Artwork size: 86 x 76 cm (33.9" x 29.9")
Frame size: 88.5 x 78.5 x 4.7 cm (34.8" x 30.9" x 1.9")
"I always love images of external nature intruding into domestic spaces, there’s something very interesting in a psychological way about this rupture in the order of things. Think of the bedroom jungle in Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ or Van Allsburg’s ‘Jumanji’. I often wonder when I go to bed if I remembered to lock the back door, so it’s fun to imagine the most absurd consequences of not doing so."
"Why the prehistoric plants and animals? I’m not entirely sure. In part it’s taken from pictures in books about fossils that my brother kept in his room – he loved paleontology, and was only interested in the most ancient crustaceans and shellfish. The way paleontological book illustrations and museum dioramas are traditionally presented look slightly religious to me, as if they are modern creation stories. So in the painting, the open door seems to have triggered a genesis of sorts – life forms have only started to evolve, the door having been open for just one night after all, as if nature is colonising the lounge-room from scratch. Things are growing, metamorphosing, creeping, crawling, spawning, and lounging about, all quite at home in this sheltered little Eden. It’s either wonderful life or a big mess, depending on how you look at it."
"The annoyance of the older brother suggests that it’s the little brother’s fault: more so for having been previously warned to check the door. And somebody has to clean it all up. Originally the younger brother held a mop and bucket, but I realised a shovel might be more effective as the embankment of material enlarged over subsequent sketches." —Shaun Tan