The timed auction ends Thursday August 20th at 8:00pm. Whoever holds the highest bid at the auction closing time wins.
Shane Bonsujet
Flesh and bone, 2026
Acrylic paint on stretched canvas
Height 90 cm x Width 90 cm
Artwork is stretched and ready to hang & comes with a certificate of authenticity
Starting Bid: $1,200
Flesh and Bone examines the tension between the temporary nature of the body and the enduring desire for power, meaning, and freedom. A crowned skeleton stands at the centre of an imagined landscape, stripped of flesh yet still carrying the symbols of authority and ambition. In death, titles and possessions lose their permanence, leaving only the traces of the life that was lived.
Around the figure, symbolic forms construct an emotional narrative rather than a literal one. The caged bird speaks to confinement and the longing for liberation, while the chess knight suggests strategy, conflict, and the unpredictable moves that shape a life. The barren tree and downward-pointing spear evoke cycles of loss and inevitability, contrasting with the vivid pink sky, which introduces beauty and optimism into an otherwise unsettling world.
My paintings are driven by intuition and symbolism rather than fixed meanings. I invite viewers to navigate these visual clues through their own experiences, allowing each object to become a mirror for personal memory and reflection. Flesh and Bone is ultimately a meditation on mortality—not as an ending, but as a reminder that beneath status, identity, and ambition, we all return to the same essential form.
Artist Bio: Shane Bonsujet is a visual artist based and working out of his studio in Melbourne.
Shanes art often draws on lived experiences and memories that explore themes of psychology, growth, empowerment and discovery forming a deep connection with viewers.
Emotive, expressive, intuitive and playful, Shane's paintings are inspired by many influences such as the natural world, existentialism and philosophy that create a balance and duality between depth in concept and naïve appearance. Bold colours and expressive brushwork create an open dancefloor for curious mark making, patterns, naïve characters, symbols and motifs that balance abstraction and various other styles and references.
Shanes paintings are held in public and private collections all over the country and internationally, and has been a finalist in various notable art prizes such as the Blacktown art prize, Fishers Ghost art prize, Hawkesbury art prize, Lethbridge 10,000 and exhibited in several exhibitions, group shows and art fairs.
Dimensions:
90 cm x 90 cm