SUPER HEROES

When I Was A Child I Dreamt I could Fly  Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2004

Last week I took myself off to the movies. Yes, alone. None of my kids wanted to see this particular movie! Can you believe it?! The movie was 'The Avengers' I bought myself a chocolate covered ice cream and settled into my seat. I loved the movie. Yes, I am a fan of fantasy action packed cinema.

But, whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the improbable feats of bravery and bravado, I left the cinema feeling a touch of sadness. Why?

Well...if movies reflect society's underlying beliefs, demeanors, spirit and confidence, this film, for me anyway, revealed much about society's despondency, feelings of lack of strength and direction...that 'things', such as global economic degradation, ongoing wars, global warming, cost of living etc,  are just too big for mere human kind to overcome, let alone solve. So, unlike in most other super hero films, where there is normally one heart throbbing super hero saving the day, this film 'The Avengers' is about a cluster of super heroes conscripted to save life on Earth from nighmare-ish alien cyborgian- reptilian like monsters which are allowed to escape from a portal to another universe-like place, mythological Asgard. These monsters are the soldiers of a really bad guy called Loki, a character borrowed from Norse mythology. He is the adopted son of Odin, a ruler of Asgard. He was raised by Odin as a son, alongside his biological son Thor.  

Yes, and Thor is also one of the super heroes, who is pitted against his adopted brother. Thus, we have the age-old Abel and Cain-like story weaving through the action. Thor is joined by Captain America, Ironman, Black Widow, and The Hulk. Each joins the team with some initial reluctance, but their recruiter, legendary director of the peace keeping organisation S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury convinces them, at the same time as coercing and over-riding edicts from what appears to be some kind of global government committee. As a team, with some endearing dysfunction, the super heroes save the world with might, strength, some intellect, authority, larrikanism and humour.

After thinking about my feeling of sadness, I realised that maybe this film is a reflection of society's general malaise about the seeming enormity of problems facing the planet and its inhabitants ie: us. Indeed, modern media has a 'wonderful' way of infiltrating not only our lounge rooms, but also our psyches with constant reportage of mayhem and disaster across all aspects of life. It's exhausting! 'The Avengers' tells me that as a human race... a global society... we want to be saved, we are yearning to be saved, by heroes. But, then again, maybe this is a normal reaction to feeling of being on the brink, given that our ancestors of eons ago, believed in the powers of mythological Gods and Goddesses. When we don't know what to do we resort to mythology! But, maybe this is not as delusional as it may initially appear to be. Maybe superheroes, myth and legend spark a primal element within us which rejuvinates our energies, forces us to look at different perspectives, rekindles faith...maybe?

The character of Nick Fury, whilst not a super hero, is a pivotal grounding human presence. He is tough, he is brave, he is a 'real' leader. I think his defiance of the 'government committee' which only appeared a few times in massive overhead screens, is heroic in itself. His character represents a yearning for leadership, for someone to make inspired decisions, for someone to facilitate and enable super heroes! And, just maybe...just maybe...given the right circumstances and leadership, you and I could be a 'super heroes' too. 

It is a shame that only one of the super heroes was a female. Maybe they could have sqeezed in another? Or even had Thor's mother Gaea sweep her Earth Mother magic across the land, especially after the destruction wrought by the end-of-film battle between the forces of good and bad. But, where would that place a sequel, which is hinted at during the credits at the end of the film? 

I have uploaded the painting above, because it was inspired by my childhood dreams of flying. 'When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly' has a figure of a girl, propelled by red energy forces, flying above the Earth, accompanied by the moon. Yes, I did have 'flying' experiences. Indeed, even though I had never been in a plane above my parent's farm, I knew what the farm buildings, yards, silos and water tanks, gardens and roads looked like from above. When I watch movies like 'The Avengers' and see characters such as Thor and Ironman flying, I 'know' exactly how it feels!!! Really!

As a child, I had all sorts of fantasies about saving the world, from being a gutsy fighter pilot to being an intrepid missionary, to being a famous scientist! What were your fantasies?

Below are a couple of other paintings which depict flying. Both these paintings show a bride flying above a landscape. I don't think she is a super hero, but hey who knows?

 Flying Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2003

Living With Distance Oil on linen 120 x 160 [diptych]

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

GATE

                                                      Gate Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm


I have ruminated for days on the title for this painting above. I know what I want to say, but there's so much! The question I have been asking myself is; how do I encapsulate, in a succinct way, the enormity of possibilities which have permeated through my mind? When I started the painting I had ideas of portraying the gate to Eden ie: the gate Adam and Eve, after taking from the tree-of-knowledge, fled through, and which we [humanity] have the possibility of finding and returning to. Finding [or seeing again] the gate promises the return to Eden, Paradise, Heaven, Stillness...to One. I have previously written about the story of Adam and Eve, and its metaphysical lessons.
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/08/garden-of-eden.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/09/adam-and-eveleft-and-right-brain.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-is-your-paradise.html

Yes, it is the metaphysical that holds the enormity which I have tried to grapple with. So, after coming up with lots of possible titles, each holding intrinsic limits, I decided to simply call the painting 'Gate'. Without other accompanying descriptor words, gate can take the viewer [and myself] to wherever we want to
go...and maybe to places we had not thought of going? We just have to open it!

So, the painting has a circle, or wreath, created with my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life/knowledge. Two white trees meet with entwined branches on the left of the painting. On the right, their trunks are connected by a oval ball of, what seems like, pulsing energy. It is this 'energy' that is one of the 'gates' in the painting. Another 'gate' is the circle of trees itself, which takes on a portal-like appearance. I have previously written about portals and their capacity to impel, beyond and within.
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/beauty-as-portal.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/02/portal.html

I have painted the trees white to indicate the time before knowledge ie: when Adam and Eve [humanity] could not see each other's nakedness. The fourteen trees which seem to grow out of the white wreath, represent knowledge ie: the knowledge of opposites revealed when Adam and Eve took from the tree-of-knowledge and could see their nakedness. You will notice that the trees are painted in the seven colours of the rainbow, the seven chakra colours. Each colour is repeated twice, once on the lower half of wreath/circle and once on the top half, as if they 'speak' of the knowledge of the conscious and subconscious, human and divine. I have previously written about my thoughts on colour and knowledge:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/12/colour-of-knowledge.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/knowledge-of-stillness.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/knowledge-and-cooking.html

The 'gate' of pulsing energy is again two trees which meet in entwined branches. The trees, rather than being white, are painted with the seven rainbow/chakra colours, as if opening the gate with knowledge, returns humanity to a realisation of Oneness, Paradise, Eden, Heaven, Stillness.

If you have a pair of 3D glasses...go get them and put them on to look at this painting! The wreath/circle immediately distances itself from the background. It seems to float in space like some kind of celestial entity. Regular readers will know of my interest in the realms of the universe and the enthralling possibility that we are not part of one universe but many ie: multiverse. Maybe the 'gate' is a portal to other universes...and of course these other universes can be out there in space, or inside us within the realms of the subconscious!

I don't deliberately paint 3D. I discovered that many of my paintings take on the 3D appearance when a visitor to my exhibition 'Frisson' in 2010 brought in a pair of 3 D glasses! he returned to see my exhibition 'Vortex' earlier this year and brought some glasses again!

The act of putting on 3D glasses is, in a way, an act of deliberately seeing differently. I wonder how we can do this without the aid of external devices? I wonder how we can do this with the miracle of our imaginations? Seeing different perspectives, without aids, I believe, is the key to engendering compassion for ourselves and others.

The idea of a 'gate' being energy, excites me. Maybe I've watched too much Dr. Who? But, that's what I like about simple titles for paintings...they let the viewer's imagination stir! So, if I had called the painting 'Gate to Stillness', 'Revealing The Gate', 'Gateway to Eden' plus all the other titles I played around with, I suspect I would have diminished the work with prescription...even if it was just a little dose.

Regular readers will know that within my practice I have, what I call, my quiet activism work. I have not painted anything screamingly, obviously or even quietly activist very recently, but please see some links below. However, in a subtle way my paintings, such as 'Gate', are politically toned, because their underlying pathos is that they remind us of what we could lose if we maltreat our earthly paradise. They provoke wonder and imagination, powerful qualities to circumvent negativity, and bypass tired thinking!

Cheers,
Kathryn

NEWS

• I'd like to recommend a book called 'Metanoia: Renovating The House Of Your Spirit' by Russell Stugess. It is a complex book, dense with massive amounts of information that truly opens up wonder. It is a book I often refer to. http://www.beattitude.com.au/index.php?/resources/metanoia_book/

• I am presenting at the Qld Jung Society on 4 Aug. Here's a link to their homepage where you will find links to the various events, including mine. http://www.jungqld.com/

• My next solo show Paradise at Purgatory Artspace, Melbourne opens Friday 9 Sept. Exhibition dates 8 Sept - 8 October. More details soon.

• Quiet Activism
• http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/gas-gallery.html
• http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/06/planet.html
• http://www.visualartist.info/visualartist/artist/subpage.asp?ex=gallery&I=1690&sub=4325&artistId=1292&PageId=1690

COSMIC FRISSON

                                         Cosmic Frisson oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

This is the painting I was working on when I wrote my recent BLOG post 'Ripples' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ripples.html  Yes, it is finished!

I wrote in 'Ripples' that I wanted to create a painting which seemed to ripple, at one instance appearing to reveal something and at the next swathing it under swift and repetitive movements. This  painting could be a landscape of the Earth in the cosmos, her outer protective atmosphere meeting the sun blessed sky space, creating a frisson between multiple dimensions. Yet, the cluster of rounded shapes could be a cluster of space presences, from planets to particles of dust, saluting a sun star many light years from ours.

I have used my tree-of -life/knowledge motif to create the planetary shape, but beneath the rippling-like branches, glimpses of other forces can be seen. These same forces are glimpsed through the sun's felt presence within the sky space. The cosmos teases and tantalises us with its secrets, by revealing its inner essence languidly.

Without the teasing and tantalising would we question? Would we be curious? The search and acquisition of knowledge survives and thrives on the stimulation and seduction of glimpsed secrets.

I have used the tree-of-life/knowledge to suggest that 'life' lies beyond our planetry existence. It may not be life like we know it, but as the Universe continues to expand, its propulsion is the potential. I am so glad the Universe and the sub-atomic, and the simultaneously expanding and decreasing space and distance between them, are complex. Complexity means there are forces, whilst we may not understand or be aware of them, that keep life's processes operating. My faith lies in the complexity that holds the questions we have not thought to ask and the answers we don't even know exist yet. Now that's frisson!

Regular readers would know that my solo exhibition in March here in brisbane was called Frisson. Here is a link to a previous post http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-frisson.html

Until next time,
Kathryn

LISTENING TO THE STILLNESS

                                         Listening To The Stillness Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed

I have previously, in recent posts, written about my interest in the concept of the vortex and the stillness I imagine to be found in the centre or core of the vortex. In the stillness I imagine a quietness which allows you to listen to yourself, your thoughts and reflections, your heartbeat and breath. The imploring hysteria held within the twirling and whirling of the outer vortex fades away to leave a place where listening can be really experienced...a listening to life from within yourself, and a listening to the space and energy of the Universe. I imagine the vortex core to be a space of unfathomable immensity and also intimacy. This paradox is completely imaginable if notions of lines of sight and traditional perspective are abandoned.

I have written before about my thoughts on perspective and the need for us in the 21st century, where we live locally in a globalised world, to develop skills in 'seeing' multiple perspectives simultaneously. Indeed, another word may need to be created to describe the collapse of perspective.

But back to the vortex core. The painting above, and those in other recent posts, are my visual explorations of being inside the vortex. I imagine an attraction to, and an emmanation from, the vortex representing a natural and consistent flow of life and love. The hysteric twirling and whirling of the outer vortex strips life and love to the point where they are confused with such human derailments as jealousy, materialism, neediness, martyrdon etc.

The image above is a close up of an oil painting I am currently working on. It is my first oil painting focusing on my vortex ideas. As you can see my much loved tree-of-life has a dominant part to play in the visual story. [regular readers of this blog will not be surprised!] As in my recent works on paper, the tree-of-life/knowledge is connected to the inner core of the vortex like a sustaining vascular system, suggesting that once stillness is listened to, our lives expand beyond the reaches of the hysteric turmoil existing in the noisy outer world.

ON ANOTHER MATTER
Please have a look at this website 'coal4breakfast'. It has been set up by a group of farmers who live near or along a road called Haystack Rd, on the Darling Downs west of Dalby, Queensland, Australia. I grew up on my parent's farm not far away from this place. The soils surrounding Dalby are some of the most fertile soils in the southern hemisphere, thus representing major food producing capacity. However, there are minerals under the ground, mainly coal. Mining is threatening the sustainability of the fertile food producing soils of the area. There is no gurantee that lands can be rejuvenated and restored. For me, the risk is too high, because it is a risk that will influence future generations. These soils can produce food for 1000s of years, yet a mine's life is vastly shorter. http://www.coal4breakfast.com.au/page10.htm

Cheers,
Kathryn

TOGETHER

Together Gouache on paper 30 x 21 cm

Together oil on canvas 30 x 30 cm


Last night I presented at PECHAKUCHA Brisbane http://www.pechakuchabrisbane.org/ There were 10 speakers and we had 20 slides which appeared for 20 secs on a power point each. Thus, we each had 6 mins 40 secs to say what we wanted to say. Boy, 6 mins 40 secs flies when you are on centre stage.

I spoke about my interest in perspective, distance and my much loved trans-cultural/religious tree-of- life motif. I somehow intertwined these with my investigations and thoughts about art's catalytic agency as a stimulant for agenda-less but not directionless conversations which may...just may...hold clues to new pathways to peace on earth. Now that's pretty big to fit into 6 mins 40 secs! I think I managed it succinctly though. I also spoke about 'frisson' and described it as a thrill which could be touched with either or both fear and excitement like the moment before a romantic kiss. This was when I could feel my daughter, who was in the audience cringing! Mum talking about romantic kisses....all Mums are too old to even think about things like that! Well, apparently I was wrong...she did not cringe at all. She thought I did a really good job!

As I was preparing for the presentation, I was thinking a lot about my experiences talking with visitors to my exhibition in Abu Dhabi in 2005. Regular readers of my BLOG will have read about these experiences before. Visitors to the exhibition came from all over the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and some from the West. The conversations, which were stimulated by my artwork, went way beyond the art to places of shared compassion where we realised there were far more fundamental similarities between us than differences. As a result of my recent reflections I realise these experiences of intimacy made my world larger. So, a perfect example of multiple perspectives felt and experienced simultaneously...as something got smaller it also got larger.

As readers of my BLOG know I am intensely interested in exploring the notion that our contemporary world is a stage that exists between indeterminate and multi directional 'wings' of the Global and local, macro and micro, intimate and vast. Readers also know that I wonder how we can develop flexible skills of perspective in order to dance across this stage. I wonder if perspective collapses and something else is created...but I don't have a name for it...yet!

We have passed by [ I hope!] the arrested development of the post-modern playground where pretend games lead us to events such as the GFC. We are now on the precipice of learning the dance steps needed to negotiate the 21st century stage. To me a stage still means we can be playful but we are not constantly playing pretend.

Cheers,

Kathryn