Robert Bateman:
„I did this painting as a gift for Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who is
one of the driving forces behind the World Wildlife Fund. It was presented
to him at the annual meeting of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, a particularly appropriate forum, since the painting
can be read as an allegory of the endangered natural world. It has four
major elements – water, birds, a large mammal and a fish (if you look
closely, you’ll see a salmon next to the rock in the stream). And all
four are in trouble. In calling it Grizzly
– Endangered Spaces however, I particularly wanted to draw attention
to a problem that faces the largest mammals, which until recently in human
history have been universally regarded as our competitors and enemies. Now
the vast spaces they live in are threatened by the rapid growth of the
world’s population. Like the grizzly, the composition of this painting
is aggressive. You, the viewer, are face to face with an angry, maybe
unpredictable bear, and the energy seems to spin out from him in a
swirling centrifugal fashion. Through this somewhat alarming treatment, I
want to force the viewer to ask this question: Am I willing to make the
sacrifices necessary to set aside the space this creature needs to survive?”
Endangered Spaces – Grizzly, 1989
ZKH Prins Bernhard