CROSSING THE RUBICON

Crossing the Rubicon Gouache on paper 67 x 56 cm 2017

POINT OF NO RETURN

The term 'crossing the Rubicon' means, being at the point of no return. Historically there is a background story. In 49 BC, Julius Caesar's army crossed the Rubicon River in north east Italy. It was considered an act of insurrection and treason, and a declaration of war against the Roman Senate. 

When I painted the new work above, I was also thinking about the event horizon, a cosmological term to describe the 'point of no return' at the entry of a black hole. However, a black hole emits nothing, not even light, and my new painting reveals a fire - is this a hopeful sign? 

FIRE - HEAT - LIGHT

Despite the fire in Crossing the Rubicon indicating light, the tree-of-life seems threatened, not by a black hole's event horizon, but by another kind of possible point of no return. This point relates to climate change commentary regarding global warming. At what point will it be too hot for humans, and other creatures and plants, to survive? Will we all have time to adjust? Or will we be like the proverbial frog placed in water that is brought to the boil - not noticing how hot it is until too late! Should we develop extremophile characteristics? Maybe we are already mutating? Extremophiles are organisms that survive in extreme environments and temperature conditions. Fascinating critters! Yet, maybe transformation into transhuman/robotic entities is the only way we might survive?

In Crossing the Rubicon a tree-of-life is drawn towards a place where it suddenly erupts into fire. However, whilst fire is destructive, it can also symbolise renewal. Maybe the point of no return can be avoided or maybe it triggers something else, another way of being? Maybe the point of no return, 'crossing the Rubicon', is about social and political will? 

Crossing the Rubicon may indicate no return, but it does not negate a future - of some kind. 

COSMIC LANDSCAPE

Crossing the Rubicon is another of my cosmic landscapes. You could be looking down from space upon a literal landscape, maybe not even Earth! Or, you could be looking up at a 'spacescape', witnessing cosmic events unfold. Or, maybe looking into a landscape - somewhere. Cosmic perspectives offer intriguing ways to view ourselves, our planet and our universal environment. 

Please check out COSMIC FIRE and THE BODY POLITIC

Cheers,

Kathryn

COSMIC REVELATION

Cosmic Revelation Mixed media on paper 24 x 32 cm 2015

 

 

It is only 7 weeks until the doors open to my next exhibition CODE.

 

As always I am excited and nervous. But, I do look forward to seeing an exhibition hung and I love chatting to people who come to see it. I like the buzz.

 

WHY CODE?

I've chosen the title CODE for the exhibition because it's a loaded word! It allows me to play with secrets...those that the universe may hold tight, but we humans want to explore and understand. In the 21st century 'code' also takes on technological imperatives that influence our everyday lives. It propels us into the future with its unseen and unheard language working in the background of computer systems around the world. 

 

So, I try to tackle the secrets of the universe with my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life. My last post Tree-of-Life Dreaming explains some of the reasons why I love to use the tree-of life as a visual guide in my work.

 

Tackling computer code is a different thing altogether! I am not a computer scientist, however I do understand computer code's instructional symbolism. In some of my recent paintings I have included binary code representing LIFE. In a couple of the paintings I have juxtaposed binary code with the tree-of-life. Now...these were fun to paint...they tickled my sense of humour, but also stimulated lots of thoughts about existence and the future.

 

If you are interested in code and the future you might like to listen to Prof Stuart Russell speaking at the The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Cambridge University, about artificial intelligence. His speech was called The Long-Term Future Of [Artificial] Intelligence  I find it rather interesting that there are brackets around the word artificial! It kind-of alludes to intelligence, in its entirety, being questioned. Yet, I have listened to the whole presentation and I am excited about the future. I am also so very happy that really really intelligent people are thinking critically about AI development, to ensure that it will be for the benefit of humans and the planet.

 

COSMIC REVELATION

So, let's talk about the painting above Cosmic Revelation. Well the word revelation gives a bit of a clue, given my previously stated quest to reveal the secrets of the universe! The wavy lines could be strips of code imbedded in waves of energy? Or they could be whispering contours of another universe existing simultaneously with ours? But what about the spaces in between? Are they like the 'unknown' in black holes...some kind of energy concealing the continuity of wavy energy? These alternate spaces play with perception, at one minute appearing to be in the foreground and the next receding away from the viewer. They almost act like a wave themselves...maybe detected from a different angle?

 

Cosmic Revelation is what I call a cosmic landscape! It has landscape elements, yet it is not Earth-bound. Regular readers know of another of my quests....to untether landscape from Earth-bound horizons.

 

Cosmic Revelation will be in CODE. It's at the framers now, being framed up for exhibition. Although, I will also be exhibiting some unframed works on paper, so that buyers can choose their own frames.  

 

INSTAGRAM:

If you just want to see paintings please follow me on INSTAGRAM @kathrynbrimblecombefox

 

 

 

CODE

 

Tuesday 21 July - Sunday 2 August

Open daily 10 am - 6 pm or by appointment

Graydon Gallery 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia

 

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ADAM AND EVE...AND THAT TREE-Online Exhibition

                                   In The Garden of Eden Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm 2009
                                                                     Previous post HERE

Regular readers may have previously seen, what I call, my Adam and Eve paintings. But, they will not have seen them all together.

I am currently working on a painting which is inspired by ideas of galactic horizons. So, in the meantime here's an online 'exhibition' of my Adam and Eve paintings! I really enjoy this small series.

The story of Adam and Eve is shared by the three Abrahamaic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Note the word shared! Yes, we are connected through shared stories, across time, religions and cultures. Stories are like branches of trees, reaching out, rustling together, shedding leaves, dropping seeds, blooming with flowers, reaching for light. Stories are also like the roots of trees, burrowing down to unseen depths, entwining with other roots, anchoring a tree, and giving it strength and sustenance.

Stories can anchor us at the same time as giving seed to relationships, understanding and compassion. However, the light of potential, depends on how willing we are to explore the metaphors, nuances and symbols embedded in age-old stories.

In The Garden of Eden [above] the figures of Adam and Eve are like tree trunks, with branches emanating from their heads and roots radiating from their feet. Life flows through them and beyond. Tree branches meet and cross over, forming a sacred feminine symbol of fertility and life. The trees are symbolic of the age-old transcultural/religious motifs of the tree-of-life and the tree-of-knowledge.

The Colour of Knowledge Oil on linen 62 x 82 cm 2009

Previous post HERE

The Colour of Knowledge depicts the creation of Eve as she is formed from a sleeping Adam's rib. However, for me, this is the 'birth' of the feminine force which exists within us all, male and female. It is the force of life, which knows no gender. In this painting Eve, whilst still connected to Adam, takes from the tree-of-knowledge. Until this moment, the entities called Adam and Eve existed in a whiteness where presence was felt, but not visible. Indeed, once Eve took from the tree, they realised their nakedness and covered themsleves. I imagine that with the arrival of antimonies, represented by the visibility of gender differences, the world cascaded into colour with its multitude of hues and shades. Colour is symbolic of knowledge existing in the distance and spaces between opposites.

                                                   Paradise Oil on linen 52 x 82 cm 2009
                                                                     Previous post HERE

Paradise is a painting where I explore the concept of knowledge as paradise. In this painting Adam and Eve are connected to a cascading multicoloured tree. It is both the tree-of-knowledge and the tree-of-life. The idea that paradise is a 'place' in the outer physical world is enticing. But, I think the promise of paradise, through knowledge, is really about an internal experience deep within our psyche.

She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him. [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible  Commentary] Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2009

Previous post HERE

The title of the painting above says it all really!

The story of Adam and Eve is often used to justify a blanketing and suffocating blame game against women. After all, its all Eve's fault Adam was lead astray and evil entered the world! The blame game is often undertaken under the guise of humour, but insidious infiltrations into cultural psyche have been dangerous. However, for me at least, the introduction of evil is merely another representation of the arrival of antimonies. In order to know who we are, we need to know who we are not. Antimonies help us work this out!

The shared story of Adam and Eve is rich with metaphor and symbolism. It is a story which can be explored time and time again. The ability to know who we are, by also knowing who we are not, is a journey not only for the individual, but also the human race. Its called experience, in all its physical, emotional, psychic, spiritual dimensions. It is unfortunate that literalness often stymies the journey, by creating roundabouts with hidden exits. I believe these exits are revealed with a curiosity for symbolism, which ultimately takes you/us on a journey with no end. Like a tree, this journey branches out and digs below, as it seeds and blooms, connects and responds. Knowledge is not static, but alive.

NEWS

• My entry for the $25,000 Mandorla Art Prize in Perth is a finalist. The award is announced 10 August. I will upload an image once the exhibition is live!

• Reminder that my painting $oils Aint $oils Anymore is a finalist in the SCOPE Galleries Art and Environment Award in Warrnambool. The exhibition has been extended until July 15.

• Also, my book FOR EVERYONE is moving along! Check it out HERE

• I will have 4 paintings in the Brisbane Grammar School Art Show which is held 3rd and 4th August.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

IN THE STILLNESS

                                                Detail of new work I am currently working on...as yet untitled

I am working towards my next solo exhibition, which I am going to call 'Vortex'. I have previously written about some of my vortex thoughts. Here are a few of the links: http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/hovering.html   
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/finding.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/galaxial.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/stillness.html

As you can see the new painting, I am currently working on above, continues with my vortex compulsion. I will finish this painting in a day or so and will upload a full image of it then. However, I will write a little about it now. As with some of my other vortex paintings, which I have written about in the above links, this new painting is an outpicturing of my imaginings of being inside a vortex, in that place where the turmoil of the outer vortex finds peace and stillness. A place where thoughts can be heard, where we listen to things we did not know made sound, where we see things that we did not know could be seen, where we feel things we did not know could be felt. A place where the conscious and subconscious hold hands to expand towards an embrace of our sentient and spiritual experiences.


In this new painting I am painting multiple trees-of-life which errupt from the pinnacle of the vortex. There are 7 trees, representing the colours of the rainbow, the colours of the chakras, the days of the week and so on. But, whilst the number 7 is significant, for me, colour is the most important element, because colour signifies knowledge. Colour, as a metaphor for experience of all kinds and thus knowledge gained, paints our psyche and our soul. I have written about colour and knowledge previously; http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/12/colour-of-knowledge.html

With  this new painting I am thinking about the knowledge gained from stillness, from listening, seeing and feeling in a place where peace clears the muddied waters of the exterior vortex. Revelations, insights, new perspectives are all possible in stillness. We can see, feel and hear ourselves in a different way. Yes, this kind of knowledge is self-knowledge...and finding out who we are not in order to know who we are.

I have recognised unhelpful default thinking processes in myself when I have made the time to be still. And being still is a problem for someone who is hyperactive. However, I have found that imagining being inside vortex is very helpful. Ahhhhh.... a wonderful thing our imagination!

B AWARE
The exhibition B Aware which I mentioned in my last previous opened  last Friday. It was an excellent opening. This curated exhibition is themed on the 8 Millenium Development Goals. The show continues until Thursday Oct 21, and is open daily 9.30-4.30pm. All the paintings are for sale too...at St. John's Cathedral, 373 Ann St, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Check out my website 'gallery' B Aware where I have uploaded images of the 5 paintings selected for the B Aware exhibition. http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/



Until next time.
Cheers,
Kathryn