The levitating Rhinoceros – 2026

Oil on canvas H60.5 x W83.5 cm

The African Umbrella Thorn Tree (Vachallia tortilis) dominates its surroundings in the South African Lowveld. A stereotypical image associated with the South African Bushveld. it is mainly found in the East of Mpumulanga Province. An oversized Rhinoceros is depicted levitating under the foliage of the Thorn Tree, The well-rooted tree grows upward as the weighty beast is about to gently alight. The surrounding light has a ghostly ethereal quality – perhaps conveying an other worldly-ness which presages the miracle of levitation occuring.

While the Rhinoceros is mostly inedible to humans (although the artist has tasted it as Biltong), it does create Food for Thought…