For his new exhibition in Adelaide, South Australia, the artist has embarked on a number of new paintings and drawings, many of which feature familiar symbolism involving domestic animals. Such use reminds one of the anthropomorphism present in George Orwell's brilliant study of totalitarian politics, Animal Farm. The animal kingdom provides an excellent source of metaphors for the brutalisation and dehumanising of mankind. Pigs grow rich, make cynical political alliances and parade their stuff, as brute exemplars of naked power. Further down the scale, ferocious dogs delight to do their masters' bidding under a masquerade of "simply doing their job". Here are the intimidators, enforcers and prison-camp guards. Where dogs and dog-handlers once met the death-trains, dogs now stand in pictorially for both roles. By training their charges in ferocity and obedience, the dog-handlers echo their own symbiotic relationship with their masters. Dogs which can be "man's best friend" are persuaded by training and propaganda to turn savagely against unfortunate sections of humanity. Here are unleashed, warlike dogs which have forfeited all human sympathy for being the willing servants of brutal masters. Here are dogs which snarl and bluster, but which can be put to flight themselves in the face of true human resolve.

By contrast, goats are the traditional Judaic beasts of sacrifice or atonement. The role of scapegoat for the collective ills of humanity is present in Old and New Testaments as well as in Christian iconography of more recent origin. The artist's symbolism is never obvious nor heavy-handed and probably provides a wise alternative, at times, to purely human narratives. Zimiles does not encourage us merely to dwell upon past events, but to try to understand their lasting significance.