DRONE EXHAUST

Drone Exhaust Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 

DEVICES AND DATA

We all know that various devices and systems collect the data we generate. We generate content data eg: information in 'cloud' storage or stored on our computers that may be accessible by others remotely or in-house. We also generate behavioural pattern data from activities such as:

• how many times we might shop at a certain shopping centre based on various systems such as GPS and WIFI use. 
• whether we access news online.
• how often we fill up our cars based on credit card records or even on-board vehicle systems accessible by others including manufacturers. 
• whether we surf the net at night.
• 'likes' and clicks on social media.                

DATA EXHAUST

"Data Exhaust" is the data that is not core to a particular business or policy agenda - but might be in the future if certain correlations are exposed by algorithmic analysis. "Exhaust Data" is a byproduct that may be useful later. It can exist long after mortal death, so could be resurrected for what may now seem improbable purposes.

The term "Data Exhaust" has been around for awhile - here's an interesting article 5 Things You Need To Know About Data Exhaust that helps explain what it is and some insidious aspects of it.

So "Data Exhaust" got me thinking about drones and their data collection and monitoring capabilities via various sensors. Wide area surveillance systems enable a drone to monitor and collect data over wide areas, 24 hours a day. There must be a huge amount of "Data Exhaust"!

DRONE EXHAUST
So, here is my painting Drone Exhaust where I have made visible - the drone and its multiple sensors, the wide area under surveillance, the significant data and the drone's exhaust data. I imagine a landscape strewn with digital data. A dronescape! Or a datascape!

I wonder what this exhaust might obscure?

NEWS

I have again been invited to be a finalist in the Tattersall's Landscape $30,000 Art Award.

My painting is delivered tomorrow 29 August.

The exhibition will be at the Tattersall's Club, Brisbane 5 - 9 September and then it relocates to Riverside Centre 12 - 23 September. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

STRATEGIC LANDSCAPE - DRONED?

 Strategic Landscape Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Broadly speaking the term 'strategic landscape' has both civilian and military connotations. The word 'strategic' signposts that agendas are inherent. These agendas deal with issues such as safety, security, economic advantage, future intentions and mitigations, demographics and so on. The use of the word 'landscape' can either refer to a literal landscape [eg: currently occurring issues in the Sth China Sea] or a metaphoric one [eg: political landscape].

Regular readers will immediately identify my interest in the 'landscape' focus. As a painter of landscapes I am intensely interested in how we think about landscape, especially in a cosmological age. By this I mean an age where the close and far distances of the universe are being explored by a variety of the sciences, including astronomy, nanoscience, astrobiology, astrophysics, quantum physics and more. 

So, I ask, if we speak about 'strategic landscape' are we containing ourselves to planet Earth and its geopolitical 'landscape'? If we think of the universe as a 'landscape' can 'strategic landscape' be expanded to include questions about how we use space, space assets such as satellites, optimal orbits, other planetary assets such as potential mineral deposits? Will space become a contested place where a military 'strategic landscape' draws forth a future where conflict, defensive and offensive systems are developed and deployed beyond Earth's atmosphere? 

• Google "strategic landscape - defence - military" or similar and you will see that the phrase is used by the defence departments and those who provide academic, political or journalistic commentary on international relations, peace and conflict studies and military activities.  

 My painting Strategic Landscape [above] uses the figure of the drone to symbolise the ubiquity of 21st century surveillance, monitoring, data gathering and targeting. The drone is a conduit connected to ground-based nodes as well as satellites. Thus, it represents the space between the landscape of Earth and the 'landscape' of space. In my painting the scoping 'rays' of the drone's camera cast pathways across and landscape of land and sky. Yet, the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life casts its twisted and connected branches across the land and sky too. The tree is multicoloured to symbolise the nuances of life that cannot be detected by the drone's scoping devices. Things like desire, humour and soul are embraced by the colour and held close - safe. The boxes and cubes, perhaps representing individual lives, float amongst the drones scoping rays and the tree's branches. They are coloured too and I wonder why? 

Maybe scoping, which I propose is implied in the word 'strategic', means that agendas contained in 'strategic landscape' imperatives miss a lot? 

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

10 THINGS FOR 10 YEARS - BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY 2006 - 2016

 Scoping The Abyss Gouache on paper 19 x 22 cm 2016

CUE
Taking a cue from social media sites where headlines grab attention I've decided to channel the grab-line! Maybe not as successfully as most media sites, and thankfully for good reason.  I don't think "10 Things You Did Not Know About Kathryn" is really going to grab attention or "10 Things Kathryn Keeps Secret" or "Kathryn's Most Irritating 10 Habits: According To Her Children".

However, to tickle my own humour I decided that I'd list 10 things that interest, irk, inspire me. They are all related to my art practice either closely or tangentially. And, it helps me celebrate my 10th year blogging - posting consistently once a week August 2006 - August 2016!

SCOPING THE ABYSS
But, before I go onto my list. Why did I choose the painting above Scoping The Abyss? 

The drone's scoping devices seek out the abyss where insurgency and terror lies, but I wonder if the scoping actually creates the abyss? Moving away from the military connotation let's think of the painting another way. The ubiquitous nature of connectivity, via an array of devices enable monitoring, surveillance, data collection, data retention and targeting. This creates a virtual abyss where, for example, misleading headlines about celebrities, politicians, events etc throw us into an abyss of superficiality and vacuous diversion. The result is a kind of inertia - maybe an abyss in itself?

Here's an example of being 'targeted' - I googled Suburu cars - yes daydreaming about a new car - and within minutes Suburu advertisements had appeared on my Facebook page. Helpful - NO. Diversionary - yes for a minute or two. Slightly creepy - YES!

Me with two paintings - I am 14 in this photo.

I exhibited in an adult show when I was 14 and sold my first painting at the exhibition.

10 THINGS FOR 10 YEARS BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY

1. TREE-OF-LIFE
I have been inspired by it for decades and I continue to  see how its symbolic potency intersects with contemporary life. It has meant something across cultures and religions for eons and I propose that we ignore it at our own peril.

Beacon Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm 2014

2. COSMOLOGY 

The scientific study of the universe across time and scale helps me with my fascination with perspective , literal and metaphoric. 

Cosmic Auroboros Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2012

This post for this painting is the most popular on my BLOG 

3. TECHNOLOGY AND MILITARISED TECHNOLOGY

My current M. Phil research is focused on militarised technology, an incredibly fascinating but somewhat scary area of technological development. I have a particular interest in drones! You can see this in a few of the paintings in this post and in many of my recent posts. 

New Shoots Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

4. LANDSCAPE

I grew up in rural Queensland. How we humans 'see' landscape is, I propose, an important element in how our species might survive this century. I combine the tree-of-life, cosmology, technology and more recently, militarised technology into my landscapes where I experiment with literal and metaphoric perspective. Disrupted Horizon [below] is one example of how I combine my various inspirations. 

Disrupted Horizon Gouache on paper 10.5 x 24.5 cm 2016

5. MY STUDIO

I have two spaces/studios in my house. One is the garage [two photos below] and the other is a funny room that used to house the hot water system. The latter is used for my works on paper and the former for my bigger oil paintings. Both a really messy. I love my studios.

6. PAINTING

I love painting. I have previously sculpted with various mediums [clay, concrete, assemblage]. I have also worked with etching, screen printing and lithography. I have worked in installation including one where video was an integral part of the work. I have had experience with photography as my brother is a keen photographer. As a young teenager he had a dark room in one of the outbuildings on the farm we grew up on. None of these mediums gets my daydreaming, thinking, problem solving like painting does. 

Painting at Kindergarten - a few decades ago!

7. VISUAL ARTS POLICY - This is an irk!

Two policies introduced in 2010 and 2011 by the Australian Labour Government of the time have severely and detrimentally impacted on visual artists' earning abilities, plus the flow on effect to various suppliers and dealers. The LNP Government, since election in 2013, has not addressed either issue. I get on my sopabox about these two things - but won't here. I'll just note what they are. These two policies are: 

• 2011 Changes to the status of art/collectibles as an investment in Self Managed Super Funds. 
• 2010 The introduction of the Artists' Resale Royalty Scheme. 

8. ABU DHABI

My exhibition at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation in late 2005 is a highlight of my career. I sat with the exhibition each day over two weeks and met the most amazing people from all over the region, Africa and Eastern Europe. The conversations I had with so many of these people, men and women, have had a profound influence on me. I KNOW that the arts can help create bridges across cultures - BUT unfortunately governments, especially Western ones, often see the arts as a show and tell type exercise or opportunity. I have witnessed this a few times...sadly.

At the opening of my exhibition at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation 2005. 

L to R:Clementine Fox,  Mr Khalfan Asst Undersecretary Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, Hon Rod Welford Queensland Minister for Education and the Arts,  Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox. 

9. PUBLIC SPEAKING

I enjoy public speaking - weird I know.

10. M. PHIL

I am a full-time student at the University of Queensland and loving it - most of the time! I am investigating how two Australian artists George Gittoes and Jon Cattapan represent militarised technology in their paintings. ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING!!! Both artists are remarkable. 

The topic fed from my own work and now the research is feeding back into my work. Also, as I paint I seem to work through some of my academic ideas, which result in new insights. My own work is not part of the degree, but once I have finished the degree I will have a body of work that reflects how it inspired me. 

George Gittoes has an exhibition "Night Vision" here in Brisbane at Mitchell Fine Art Gallery right now - it closes 20 August. If you are in Brisbane you MUST go and see it. It's confronting, but the integrity of the work exudes - George has worked in war and conflict zones for decades and pays witness to the horror of war in multi-layered ways. 

_______________________________________________________________

NEWS

I have again been invited to be a finalist in the Tattersall's Landscape $30,000 Art Award.

I deliver my painting on the 30th August.

The exhibition will be at the Tattersall's Club, Brisbane 5 - 9 September and then it relocates to Riverside Centre 12 - 23 September. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

A DECADE BLOGGING 2006 - 2016: ANNIVERSARY!

Two Worlds Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

2006

On the 9th of August 2006 I wrote my first BLOG post. I have written a post once a week since then. That's 10 years this month - August 2016! 

The first painting Wonderful Possibility was uploaded on the 10th August 2006. And, here it is again below. This is what I wrote about the painting When I painted this painting my thoughts were about the abundance within our earth and the majesty of the Universe. I ask myself why is so much possibility squandered by focusing on differences when all peoples of the world share history/time.

It's 10 years since I wrote those words, but has much changed? Yes and no. 'Yes', to advances in technology. 'No' to the squandering of possibility, focusing on differences and ignoring that we all share the planet, history and time...and thus we should really get along with each other, because [for the time being] there is no other 'home' for us.  

TREE-OF-LIFE

In 2006 my tree-of-life, embedded within the Earth in Wonderful Possibility , signified possibility, connectivity, hidden energy forces, the expansive nature of life. My interpretation of the tree-of-life is a continuous presence in my paintings, either as a cascading element, as in Wonderful Possibility, or as a beacon or signal for life. It acts as a beacon in one of my latest works on paper [above] Two Worlds 

Wonderful Possibility Oil on linen 120 x 160 2005

TWO WORLDS

I've chosen Two Worlds for this post, because I feel that it represents one of the biggest changes that has occurred in the last 10 years...the feeling that we a are living in...two worlds.  

When I painted Two Worlds I was thinking about how digital technology has created almost another universe where algorithms reign - where data is monitored and stored - where connectivity is about devices rather than us - where digital profiles can go on existing long after we die - and more. In this painting the drone, representing a kind of Big Brother element as well as its military intent, is scoping - monitoring - perhaps targeting. Is Big Brother targeting you to sell you insurance, hamburgers, clothes or something else - OR - is the 'eye in the sky' targeting you to kill you? 

In Two Worlds a drone is scoping, but it seems to miss picking up on the nuances of life. 

LANDSCAPE

Both paintings are landscapes or what I like to call 'cosmic landscapes'. I have a quest to un-tether landscape from Earth-bound horizons. Why? To force new perspectives that take into account our universal environment - to perhaps make it obvious, that for the time being, Earth is our home - situated in a universal environment that, as yet, has not offered us any real alternative. 

Perspective, in all its literal and metaphoric possibilities, is a key element in my work.

TWO PREVIOUS POSTS OF INTEREST

8 YEARS BLOGGING 

9 YEARS BLOGGING 

_________________________________________________________________________________

In late 2014 I received a request from the State Library of Queensland to have my BLOG archived n perpetuity on PANDORA the national archive of online sites of significance and ongoing research value. Needless to say I was delighted to have been acknowledged. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com