Jim Naughten: Eremozoic

Inspired by dioramas of wild flora and fauna found in natural history museums, Jim Naughten’s digital reimaginations of a familiar yet alien world, explore the idea of wildlife becoming a lost fantasy. From orangutans swinging through psychedelic forests, to deer roaming pastel-hued canyons―Naughten’s depictions of nature in an artificial color palette convey a distinct sense of dislocation and growing estrangement. His fantastical tableaus question our rose tinted image of the natural world that is largely fictional. In fact we are entering the Eremozoic―a term coined by biologist and writer E. O. Wilson to describe the current era of mass extinction triggered by human activity. Also referred to as The Age of Loneliness, the term alludes to the isolation that will follow the destruction of our deeply rooted relationships with other species.