Doctor by day, artist by night, Ross Hucks looks for inner meaning in all that he does.

Like a modern-day da Vinci, Cairns artist Ross Hucks enjoys a love of many things.

From science to nature, the passionate general practitioner and flying doctor, who professes a particular fascination for indigenous health, has a wide range of interests. Also like da Vinci, Ross prefers his art to carry a message, to make his viewers question his intentions, identify his motivations and to cleverly balance the importance of aesthetics with that of purpose.

This intricate weaving of desires forms the basis of his latest exhibition Wallflower, which highlights the changing face of Australia under the influence of mankind.

Despite the environmental theme underlining the mixed-media collection, viewers won’t find any typical representations of Reef and rainforest among the artist’s works.

As Ross explains, his latest series of creations incorporate a subtle use of flora and not in the usual botanical sense.

Instead, he has chosen to represent a range of blooms specific to the Daintree region through engravings coupled with the many intrinsic elements of the humble road sign.

It is a seemingly strange combination for which Ross offers a logical explanation. 

“The flowers are representing the beauty of nature and how it has been changed by man, which is represented through road signs,” he explains, referring to the significance of roads in development and their impact on forest areas.

“I have drawn examples of flowers from primarily the Daintree region because this is one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet. While roads and suburbs threaten this diversity, many of the flowering plants from the region have made it into suburbia because of their beauty and can be found by the roadside throughout Cairns.

“Both road signs and flowers may seem incongruous but both use colour and tone to catch the viewer’s eye.”

Ross points out that signs, though rarely recognised as such, are complicated examples of the impact of effective design on the human brain. “The graphic art in signs is really strong, they use artistic principles that work on your subconscious,” he says.

“Red and white in a stop sign shine out but if it were a red and black sign you wouldn’t see it, that’s to do with the tone and colour. Similarly with yellow and black, on a tonal level that works really well.

“You’ve also got sharp edges on a sign so it will pop out and angles. On an artistic level a line that’s drawn on an angle is much more dynamic than a horizontal or vertical line. In your subconscious a horizontal line is stable, it’s solid but a diagonal line has got tension. All this works on your mind.”

This passion for bringing awareness to the issue of development and its impact on the environment is something Ross says emerged at a young age after witnessing first hand the effects of urbanisation.

“I grew up in Brisbane, we lived in a suburb out west and when we moved in there it was surrounded by cow fields,” he remembers.

“I used to run around, go to the old quarry, have shanghai wars, go down the creek exploring and all that sort of stuff. There was no one around you and then all of a sudden it was taken over by suburbia. I now live in Cairns and can see the same thing happening to the rainforests of the region.”

Ross, an avid environmentalist, says his desire to convey a message close to his heart was as equally important as producing works of visual value.

“I got a bit disenchanted with a lot of art that had aesthetics but no substance. Art that just had surface quality but no depth to it,” he says.

“I really believe you’ve got to have that surface quality but you’ve got to balance the aesthetics with the substance and I felt that I could do that with the flowers and the road signs.

“I also like to have layers in my work.”

This reference to layers, he says, is three-fold. “You’ve got the surface layer that looks good, as in the carving and the paint, the technical layers,” he explains.

“And then you have the layering of the subject with the flowers and the signs.

“Then there’s another layer with references to other artists.”

One would expect Ross’ passion for producing work that speaks to the viewer to be mentally and physically draining, especially when combined with his roles as a doctor at the Cairns Private Hospital and the Royal Flying Doctor Service as well as being a father of four. However, he believes it has the opposite effect.

“I believe everyone has a need to create,  everyone has this urge. I mean why else do we have so many cookbooks and gardening books? People like to have a dabble with this stuff, people want to express themselves and I wasn’t getting that in medicine,” he says.

“Since I’ve been involved in art, if I don’t do it I get really cranky. When I do, my wife will say: ‘I think you better go down to the studio’.”

Wallflower is a mixed-media exhibition combining painting, collage and engraving.  It launches at the Cairns Regional gallery on March 15 at 2.30pm following a floor talk with Ross Hucks.

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