The Search, A Surreal Exploration of Instinct and Consumerism

The Search, Oil Painting by Haydn Englander Porter, Cream of Potato Soup

Discover The Search by Haydn Englander Porter, a surreal oil painting where a barn owl carries a Campbell’s Cream of Potato soup can through a haunting sky.

Art has the ability to stop us in our tracks, to make us question not just what we see but how we interpret the world around us. In The Search, a painting by Sunshine Coast artist Haydn Englander-Porter, we are invited into a dreamlike vision where instinct collides with consumerism.

This surreal oil on canvas painting depicts a barn owl gliding across a haunting, monochromatic sky, talons gripping a can of Campbell’s Cream of Potato soup. The juxtaposition is strange yet compelling. The natural grace of the owl meets the nostalgic familiarity of the soup can, creating a work that is both whimsical and deeply contemplative.

At 88cm wide by 60cm high, framed in a black floating frame, The Search commands attention. It forms part of Englander-Porter’s ambitious 32-painting soup series, each work transforming a simple consumer object into an icon of contemporary meaning.

View more works in the Englander Porter Art collection.

First Impressions of The Search

At first glance, The Search feels like a paradox. The owl, painted with meticulous realism, soars through a void that feels both expansive and suffocating. The backdrop, textured in grayscale, suggests a world stripped of colour and certainty. Against this haunting space, the red-and-white Campbell’s can appears almost jarring, an anchor of consumer comfort in an otherwise desolate scene.

The effect is unsettling but powerful. Viewers are prompted to ask: What is the owl searching for? Is it nourishment? Does it mean? Or is it carrying the can as a relic of our culture, a symbol of survival in a world consumed by distraction?

The Barn Owl as Symbol

The choice of the barn owl is significant. Across cultures, owls have carried symbolic weight. In ancient Greece, they were associated with Athena, the goddess of wisdom and intelligence. In folklore, they were often omens of change, death, or mystery. In modern contexts, owls are admired for their keen vision, their silent flight, and their ability to see through darkness.

In The Search, the barn owl embodies both wisdom and haunting presence. Painted with striking detail, its wings spread wide across the void, it represents instinct, survival, and the search for clarity. Yet in its talons, instead of prey, it carries a soup can, a symbol not of the wild, but of human convenience.

The juxtaposition is deliberate. The owl, a natural hunter, now depends on or carries with it a packaged product of mass consumerism. The symbolism speaks volumes about how far humanity has progressed from instinctive survival and how deeply consumer culture has become ingrained in our daily lives.

Campbell’s Cream of Potato, A Comforting Familiarity

The soup itself is no arbitrary choice. Campbell’s soup cans are among the most recognisable objects in modern art history, immortalised in 1962 by Andy Warhol. By revisiting this icon, Englander-Porter engages in a dialogue with Pop Art, while adding his own surrealist reinterpretation.

Why Cream of Potato? Unlike the more famous Tomato variety, Cream of Potato feels nostalgic, even humble. It is a comfort food, thick, warm, hearty, a reminder of homeliness. Yet when suspended in the talons of an owl against a stark sky, it takes on a new meaning. It becomes a symbol of survival in a modern age, comfort wrapped in a can, nourishment no longer hunted or gathered but purchased and packaged.

The tension between instinct and consumerism is laid bare in this simple but potent image.

Surrealism and Narrative

The Search belongs to the surrealist tradition, but with a contemporary edge. Surrealism thrives on the unexpected pairing of objects, creating dreamlike scenarios that unsettle and provoke thought.

Where Salvador Dalí painted melting clocks and René Magritte depicted bowler-hatted men with apple-covered faces, Englander-Porter paints owls and soup cans. His surrealism feels modern because it confronts the contradictions of our current moment: a world where nature and consumerism overlap, where meaning is sought in a landscape of distraction.

The monochromatic background intensifies the surreal quality. It strips away the distractions of colour, leaving the viewer focused on the strange pairing of owl and can. It is in this starkness that the work finds its contemplative power.

What Are We Searching For?

The title, The Search, invites us to reflect on our own pursuits. What is it that we, as individuals and as a society, are searching for?

• Survival? The owl as predator, the soup as food, suggests that at our core, we seek nourishment.
  
  

• Meaning? The surreal pairing suggests that our searches are not always logical, but shaped by culture, consumerism, and distraction.
  
  

• Wisdom? The owl, symbol of clarity, may be carrying the soup as a metaphor for knowledge, an unlikely vessel for deeper truths.
  
  

The ambiguity is deliberate. Englander-Porter doesn’t hand us a single answer. Instead, he leaves space for personal interpretation. The viewer becomes part of the artwork, bringing their own questions and reflections to the canvas.

Technical Mastery

The impact of The Search comes not only from its symbolism but from its technique. Englander-Porter’s skill with oils brings the owl to life, with feathers rendered in fine detail, wings poised mid-flight. The textured grayscale backdrop contrasts sharply with the realism of the owl, creating a haunting atmosphere.

The soup can, painted with precision, punctuates the monochrome with its familiar red-and-white branding. Its presence feels both out of place and entirely necessary, pulling the viewer back from abstraction into a realm of cultural familiarity.

The framing, set in a black floating frame, enhances the piece’s sense of depth, making the owl seem suspended in space.

Part of the Soup Series

The Search is part of Haydn Englander-Porter’s 32 oil-on-canvas soup paintings, a modern revival of Warhol’s iconic series. Where Warhol celebrated uniformity and consumer culture through repetition, Englander-Porter reimagines each can in a unique context. Owls, crows, flamingos, and other figures populate the series, each painting telling a distinct story.

This series is a bold artistic project, part homage, part reinvention. It transforms the soup can from a consumer object into a vehicle for narrative, symbolism, and cultural reflection.

For collectors, owning a piece from this series means not only acquiring a painting but participating in a broader artistic conversation.

Why The Search Matters Today

The relevance of The Search lies in its reflection of our times. In a world saturated with consumer goods, advertising, and distractions, we often find ourselves searching for meaning. The painting captures this paradox perfectly, an owl of instinct and wisdom carrying a can of soup, a symbol of consumer comfort.

It resonates with questions about sustainability, survival, and identity. Are we still guided by instinct, or have we replaced it with convenience? Do we still seek wisdom, or are we satisfied with packaged answers?

By raising these questions, the painting speaks not only to art lovers but to anyone navigating the complexities of modern life.

Collecting The Search

While The Search is available for collectors, works from the series are being snapped up quickly. Each comes:

• Signed by the artist
  
  

• With a certificate of authenticity
  
  

• Framed in a black floating frame
  
  

As conversation pieces, they are unmatched. Their surreal imagery and layered symbolism make them ideal for display in homes, offices, or galleries. Each is not only a decorative centrepiece but a catalyst for dialogue.

Explore more works in the Englander Porter Art collection.

Haydn Englander-Porter’s The Search is a work of striking surrealism and cultural commentary. With a barn owl soaring through a monochromatic void, clutching a can of Cream of Potato soup, the painting forces us to reconsider what we value, what we consume, and what we search for.

It is whimsical, contemplative, and unsettling all at once. By merging instinct and consumerism, wisdom and nostalgia, Englander-Porter has created a work that speaks to the contradictions of our age.

For those seeking art that challenges as much as it delights, The Search is a powerful choice, a painting that will continue to provoke thought and conversation long after its first viewing.