Glenn Ibbitson

About the Artist 

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Glenn Ibbitson originally trained as a fine art painter, but after a career as a scenic artist for film, television and theatre, he has supplemented his painting practice with forays into the fields of video, graphic novels and kimono design. “I navigate my own course across media and concepts, but with the self-imposed proviso that there really does have to be a communicable point to everything I do.” Details of fact may be subjected to manipulation, but always in the attempt to reveal a deeper truth. 

Glenn is represented by works in collections across six continents.

“Consignment is an ongoing multi-media project comprising paintings, prints and film. The work developed from an initial theme of escapology into a meditation on the contemporary social environment. The composition of the figure physically enclosed within the confines of the frame, was chosen for its universality; it suggests simultaneously both cell and refuge or hiding place. It is employed here as a visual metaphor for the individual as the object of:  

1 political oppression; the suspension of human liberties and the enforced subjugation of the individual. 

2 human trafficking. Referencing the high risk strategies employed in acts of global transmigration, either voluntary or coerced, which place people under extreme circumstances; situations in extremis, into which they are willing to locate themselves and/or others, in the vain hope of improving their economic prospects.  

The paintings are given no particular title, but are allocated a batch number and individual unit number. This dispassionate system is employed to emphasise the objectification of the subject matter, where humanity is reduced to mere commodity, whose journey can be tracked like any other item…”