TEAM HUMANITY

Hope Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2013

Recent dreadful events around the world leave us feeling bewildered and frightened. For those directly affected it's far far worse.

War and conflict rage in various locations around the globe, causing death, mayhem, social destruction and more. Innocent victims are caught up in the horror, loosing life and limb, fleeing homes and seeking refuge in other places. Long term effects are equally as deplorable and damaging.

What can we do?

It seems blame, reprisals, sanctions, increased surveillance and threats are what 'we' do. It seems that escalation is the currency of the moment. A pervasive fear exists. Politics fails to offer hope.

There's a loss of faith in the human race...surely humanity can do better than this?

But, what can I do?

And now, my thoughts turn to how the arts could be an agent of change, an agent revealing new perspectives through which life can be viewed, revealing alternative pathways to seek solutions for all sorts of problems and issues. An agent that helps us re-discover our humanity...our 'team' which works and plays together on our shared planet.

Pale Blue Dot Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2014

Am I being naively optimistic, illogical? Maybe? But, where there's hope.....

CATALYTIC AGENCY
I've previously written that I do not see the arts has having a role, but rather a catalytic agency. The word 'role' insinuates prescription, not only in method but also in outcomes, thus for me it is too reductive, and vulnerable to manipulation through agenda. Whereas, 'catalytic agency' denotes a freer more wide ranging agenda-less, but not directionless, capacity. Who knows what new and surprising perspectives could be stirred and revealed? The arts per se are not the solution, but their catalytic agency can be a potent ingredient helping to stir humanity's imagination, generating creative and new questions... and answers. It's more hopeful!

But, what are art's barriers?

These barriers scream for attention, truly narcissistic in intent, myopic in vision, sensationalist but not sensational...secretly holding hands with apathy. Here's some examples:

• The ubiquity of fashion and style,
• money commandeering as value,
• the cult of celebrity,
• labels misidentified as meaningful symbols,
• sentimentality mistaken for beauty,
• simple copying misunderstood as piercing appropriation,
• super/hyper-reality quelling nuance,
• technical virtuosity mistaken for creativity, 
• didacticism masquerading as wisdom,
• virtual reality insidiously eroding the psyche.

Planet $ Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

 

MASS MEDIA
With mass media and its incessant reminder of disaster and mayhem in pictures, videos and words, the arts must somehow differentiate to be distinguishable in the maelstrom. And, to be distinguishable and affective [ie: transformative] the arts cannot simply or only reflect back. Indeed, this kind of reflectivity is ably and grotesquely the domain of 21st century mass media. It cannibalises disaster swooping for graphic images. Why would art want to compete? Mass media persistently reminds us of the blood, gore and human suffering, which I suggest, desensitises and neuters us to the point where hope fades, fear cascades, contempt for humanity escalates. Better to bury your head in the sand or in fashion or other 'entertaining' diversions?

So, what about the arts and hope...and team humanity?

And, how do I engage with current events in a way that does not neuter me?

All Of Us Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm

I think generating, or trying to generate, hope is astutely political. So, that's what I try to do in my paintings. I find inspiration in cosmology, the scientific study of the universe, if not the Multiverse. The ever increasing perspectives it reveals, across the close and far distances of the Universe, demand our attention! And, why should we indeed pay attention? These perspectives offer us new ways of viewing ourselves and our planet. For instance, they make it both painfully and beautifully obvious that 'Team Humanity' has only one shared home! Shouldn't we work together to look after ourselves and Earth, not only for the now but also the future?  Cosmic perspectives reveal new questions and demand rethinking about land 'ownership', borders and boundaries. They also re-contextualise human history against Uni/Multiversal history, begging reappraisals of relationships, from the individual to the international. All of this does not mean no robust debate, but it might mean de-escalation of war and conflict, horror and destruction?

Meeting Place Of The Mind Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

So, in my paintings I try to visually interpret cosmic perspectives in a way which is hopeful, but also questioning eg: Planet $ above. I use age-old transcultural/religious symbols, mainly the tree-of-life plus landscape. With both, I attempt to untether them from traditional visual interpretations by catapulting them into Space and beyond.

My intentionally ambiguous 'scapes' disallow didacticism, thus leaving it up to the viewer to explore and interpret, even if they are initially disorientated.

The dark side, however, does still exist in absentia. It is not ignored, but acknowledged and then deliberately set aside. To not acknowledge would be naïve. The active choice to set aside means hope reigns.

Blood Connection Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

A SELECTION:
Of Previous Posts Linked To This One-In Some Way Or Another!

WAITING FOR THE BEEPS
AGENDA-LESS BUT NOT DIRECTIONLESS
COSMIC OUROBOROS
STIRRING THE STAR DUST: A Short Story About Digging
DIPLOMACY
ART PERSPECTIVE AND POLITICS
BEAUTY GIVES HOPE A CHANCE
BEAUTY AS A PORTAL
AFTER THE IMPLOSION

Life Takes A Cosmic Perspective Oil on linen 91 x 137 cm 2014

 

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

 

 my next solo exhibition

 

2 - 14 September 2014

 

Graydon Gallery

29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Earth, The UNIVERSE

Please visit Untethering Landscape's Webpage HERE

 

Cheers,

Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

THERAPY/THERAPEUTIC?

Into The Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 2008

Art therapy, facilitated by a trained art therapist, has a role in counselling and psychotherapy with potential to help reveal psychological wounds, as well help heal them. This link will provide you with more information. Art therapy, as a professional practice is worthwhile.

An additional link [added here June 2020] for a good overview of Art Therapy is at Most Craft/ Art Therapy Exercises

I am not an art therapist and this post is not about art therapy, as a professional practice.

However, in many quarters, the arts are perceived, and are often described as, being 'therapeutic'.

BUT, as an artist I am cautious of this word 'therapeutic'. Why? Because it is a loose word...a word that, for me at least, hinges on an illusion of worth. It's a word that, if partnered with the arts, I believe, can transfer, stir and even augment collective pathologies. It is a word that sounds important, but is it? Maybe it is, in fact, dangerous?

I have thought about this issue over many years. But, last night I attended a fascinating presentation at the Qld Jung Society by Dr. Jennifer Leigh Selig. The title of her presentation was The Content of their Complexes:  The Archetype of the Wounded Leader as Explored Through Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama.  She spoke about the relationship between a leader and his/her society/culture and the projections from both onto the other ie: a leader's core complex [in the Jungian sense] will essentially be the one permeating society at the time and vice versa. In the transference state, in the centre of the relationship, are two possibilities. One is a kind of transcendence, over time, beyond the prevailing issue for both the leader and the society, where the symphony of life can be heard clearly. The other possibility is sinking into the complex's pathology leading to cynicism, depression, violence...a place where the symphony's music is muffled. The latter is perhaps where many societies find themselves today? Alas.

Collective Memory Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2008

Dr. Selig's presentation got me thinking about how the arts can be either reflective or affective...or both... of prevailing societal complexes. But, I asked myself, is simply being reflective even affective...and affective of what? We all know what happened to the reflection-loving Narcissus! I also asked myself, if the arts has a catalytic agency that is not tethered to any prevailing complexities, is this where the light of transcendence lies? If so, the term 'therapeutic' is inappropriate, limiting and pedestrian. I have previously written that I prefer the idea of  'catalytic agency' rather than 'role' because the latter alludes to preconceptions of all kinds and hierarchies, whereas 'catalytic agency' heralds the unknown, invites the unforeseen, bypasses restriction going forth with a compassionate impulse. 'Catalytic agency' stirs and ignites imagination, and I would argue, goes beyond the therapeutic where roles, agendas and hierarchies [eg: therapist/patient] are implied.

I write this thinking about current global economic turmoils and their ricocheting outcomes locally with the loss of jobs, political cynicism, consumer malaise, spiritual emptiness. It is also against a background of conflict in the Middle East and outsider interventions, judgements etc. It is against a background of media idolatry and the relinquishment of thinking to the panacea of technology. It is against a background of general fear...a fear of economic and financial loss, to technological  failure, to literal physical death.

With all this in mind I ask...is the fate of art that reflects simply pathological mimicry... constantly reminding us of humankind's weaknesses, ultimately stirring the pot of despondency and maintaining a status quo? Maybe? Or does it help us feel better by somehow soothing emotions, such as guilt, as we appropriate imagery that is essentially derived from suffering and fear...thus we 'suffer' too? Maybe? Do we feel better about our spiritual emptiness with a purchase of an artwork created by an Indigenous artist, because in the act of purchasing we feel [subconsciously] we've gained some spirit, that allusive 'sense' perceived to be the arena of the Indigene? Spirit as commodity surely aids and abets emptiness!

Is the suggestion that the arts are therapeutic a symptom of a societal complex rather than a promise?

I do believe that amongst the debris of disintegration we will find the light to guide us to the first possibility posed by Dr. Selig; that place of transcendence beyond the prevailing issue for both the leader and the society where the symphony of life can be heard clearly. The 'light' and the 'music' will need to be sought and uncovered. Reflection, for me, does no digging.

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2011

Cheers,Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com