Whale

Although macabre in subject matter, there is a gentle push for us to reconnect with nature embedded in ROA’s artwork. Primarily using animals native to the walls he paints, the Belgian artist combines three stages of what a living body goes through in the biological cycle during life, death and after-life. With his signature style and detailed black linework, ROA’s larger than life animals occupy walls worldwide and are easily recognisable, despite the anonymity of ROA himself. With artwork customarily limited to a grayscale palette, there is a jarring effect when ROA uses a shock of red to highlight the internal structure of an animal. In this piece from 2013, the artist seeks to address Norway’s now-controversial whale hunting tradition.