The Elephant Graveyards Series

Paintings & Drawings by Ran Mullins

Featured Drawings

Elephant Graveyards Drawings

“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet. The drawing Or Not to Be explores the lack of understanding that a young man has about mortality upon examining an elephant skull.

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Subterfuge

The Subterfuge drawing represents the co-mingling of the female human torso with that of an elephant. Never completely the female figure and never completely the head of an elephant the blurred lines hint at a metamorphosis taking place.

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Transference

The drawing titled Transference posits the idea that it would be much more difficult for poachers to cut off elephant tusks if they appeared as human legs. Additionally, the phallic positioning of the elephant trunk creates a comic connection to hunting for sport and falsified manhood.

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Embrace

The Embrace drawing represents the metamorphosis of a human into an elephant, or perhaps the reverse is true. The artist has repeatedly explored the interrelated nature of humans and elephants throughout his works, often rejecting the notion that elephants possess human traits.

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More Drawings

Featured Paintings

Claimant

Oil on Gessoed Paper, 15”x22”

Claimant is an oil on paper painting that represents our human intention to mimic what we see in nature. By donning the mask of the elephant the man is attempting to represent the power of the animal. It is often said that elephants exhibit human qualities of compassion, sensity, and mourning, but make no mistake that we learned these traits from observing them.