As for their overarching theme, Wald's work now appears Existentialist: a blunt encounter with death without any suggestion of there being more to it, of a hoped-for afterlife. And yet, something about these paintings, the way they view the immanence of suffering and death, strongly bring to mind religious art. These are images to meditate over during Passover or Lent or Ramadan, paintings that beg we consider not just our own mortality, but that of others, and, perhaps through that, the uncaring ways of our amoral and hedonistic world.

Lacking comfort and reassurance, these dangling carcasses mentally cut very close to the bone, which is why some viewers will surely find them upsetting. Looking at them closely is like witnessing a bloody flagellation.

DR CHRISTOPHER HEATHCOTE, GEELONG GALLERY
(Catalogue Essay)