Sheep (off the menu) by Oscar Rosser

exhibit 07 · September 2026

Oscar Rosser

Sheep (off the menu)

Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Plywood
410 x 255 cm
2026

This work is part of a series about animals I can’t eat because of my allergy to mammalian meat, so sheep, cows and pigs are literally off the menu. I spent part of my childhood on a property in Clunes, surrounded by paddocks and farm animals, which I like to paint. For Sheep, I used acrylic and oil pastel on ply, building up layers of colour and texture.

audio guide · 3 min

0:00

artist’s chosen music

'Master of Puppets' by Metallica

interview transcript

Welcome to the monoseum, I'm Oscar Rosser. I'm 14 years old, currently attending Emmanuel Anglican College and I've loved doing art my whole life. I've lived in the Northern Rivers for like forever. I started out in Ewingsdale, then Bangalow, and then my family moved to a small property in Clunes. We had alpacas, two dogs, sometimes cows. Me and my brother had a lot of freedom we would go on big adventures onto the neighbouring properties, fling crap at each other, and get chased by cows. Yeah, great times. Now I'm back living in Bangalow again and yeah I'm loving it. How did my art practice begin? I started doing art in preschool, like pretty much everyone else. Even then all the other kids were impressed by my mad ass stick figures. I kept at it, doodling in my books at school, and I'm glad it's paid off. Mainly though, I have to thank Misa Alexander. I've done art classes with her for the last five years and it was instrumental in my journey into becoming the artist I am today. I seriously recommend it. This piece is called Sheep (off the menu) because it's a sheep. I'm allergic to red meat and I was thinking about how I couldn't eat lamb chops, hence the sheep. Same principles behind my last artwork. I was thinking about how I couldn't eat beef so I drew a cow. The artwork was called Cow. Yeah I'm pretty ingenuitive like that. One piece of advice I'd give to someone beginning their art practice... honestly just do art. You can't get good at art if you don't do art. Practice makes perfect, you know. Dropping some wisdom bombs right there. What song have I chosen to accompany this piece and why? I chose Master of Puppets by Metallica because that song freaking rocks... Boom!

Atticus simring 2026-09-02 02:40

Oscar I have been your friend my hole life and never new you loved art keep up the good work baaa baaa

Melinda A 2026-09-01 03:34

Great painting Oscar. Love the depth and choice of colour and the expression on the sheep’s face. Happy he/she is not going to get eaten…… baa baa

no earlier works