Art @ Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox: INTERREGNUM

Sunday, July 03, 2016

INTERREGNUM

Interregnum Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

This new painting is a response to the Australian federal elections held yesterday, July 2, 2016. Today we have no idea which party will govern. Therefore, we have no idea who will be our next Prime Minister. There is no clear winner and we are waiting for counting to be finalised. This may take a number of days.

THE WORD - INTERREGNUM

So, in the meantime we are in an interregnum....WHAT A GREAT WORD!

I have well known media commentator Annabel Crabb to thank for introducing interregnum to me. In one of her twitter comments posted today [3 July] she tweeted So we are going to be without a government for stretch. I remember the comparable interregnum in 2010 being quite restful.

Well, I had to look up what interregnum meant...and...it means a period of time when normal government is suspended, for example between reigns or as a result of a close election, possibly causing a hung parliament. For more information, if you are interested, click HERE.

THE PAINTING - INTERREGNUM

So, here we have Australia, seemingly cut in half, each section suspended. Ribbon-like lines create both sections of the continent as well as part of the background. AND, embracing my penchant for 'playing' with perspective you, the viewer, could be in a number of places - in front of Australia, above, underneath, viewing a cross-section, maybe even sandwiched between. Yet, metaphoric perspectives also abound, depending on your personal choices, viewpoints and politics.

Interregnum is a landscape, one of my ambiguous scapes that not only speaks about landscape but also political scapes. If Australia looks dislocated, how does the rest of the world look? Well, with Brexit, the madness of US forthcoming elections, Middle Eastern catastrophes, and European social, political and economic dilemmas I'd say the whole world is somewhat dislocated. I'll have to paint it! In the meantime just imagine Blood Connection [below] cut in half and the two sections misaligned.

SUSPENSION

The problem is, however, that no matter which Australian political party, LNP or Labour, is able to form a government [most likely with the help of independents] then dislocation continues. This generates a feeling of suspension - no one likes to be kept hanging! But, what if it is a global pattern? How does anyone or any country/nation break away from a pattern that seems beyond control? If it is a pattern, what does it mean?

I have a few thoughts...and I am sure you do too!