In Recalling the Times of the Beasts, Tariq Gill examines the relationship between memory and imagination, suggesting that the past can return not as a precise recollection but as an emotionally charged image transformed by the mind. The towering creature becomes a symbolic embodiment of this process—a beast from an uncertain era that appears to rise from the landscape of memory itself. Its exaggerated scale contrasts sharply with the human figure, emphasizing how fear and recollection can magnify the presence of something that may no longer exist.

The figure’s fearful expression introduces a distinctly psychological dimension to the composition. His response leaves the nature of the creature deliberately ambiguous: it may represent a remembered encounter, an imagined threat, or a deeper instinctive fear carried through time. The landscape therefore becomes more than a physical setting; it functions as an extension of the figure’s inner world. Through expressive figuration, surreal imagery, and his distinctive oil painting practice, Gill creates a meditation on the persistence of memory and the ability of imagination to transform the past into something vivid and immediate, inviting viewers to consider how fear and recollection continue to shape human perception long after their original circumstances have disappeared.