GALAXY STRIP

Galaxy Strip Gouache an watercolour on paper 42 c 30 cm

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE

I've been reading a lot about surveillance lately...especially about UAVs [unmanned Air Vehicles] otherwise known as drones.  French philosopher, Gregoire Chamayou writes about many aspects of militarised drones as surveillance and/or weaponised vehicles in his book Drone Theory. Fascinating and terrifying in many ways. 

The aerial view, though, is not new to me. I have for many years painted as I am the one flying above the ground. I've written about it before too - here is a sample of previous postings SUPER HEROES, MY LANDSCAPE AND SPAGETTIFICATION , FALLING OUT INTO IT.

TEENAGE URBAN DESIGN

Also, as a child and teenager I loved planning towns and suburbs as if I was the creator from above! Here's an example below of one of my teenage suburbs. 

Suburban design around late 70s.

The idea of technology infiltrating all aspects of our lives is an exponentially growing phenomena. Penetrating our private lives from a 'distance' that we do not understand is going on 24 hours a day. Yet, the images we see of Earth from space make us awe struck with the beauty of a perspective not readily available, unless you are an astronaut. There is nothing perplexing about this, unless you are an alien...perhaps! So, some kinds of surveillance provide pleasure and awe, whereas other kinds remain insidious and troubling. 

GALAXY STRIP

My new painting at the top Galaxy Strip combines a few of my interests and inspirations. Firstly creating this 'suburb' took me back to my teenage years when I wondered about the families who might live in the houses I designed. Secondly, though, as I painted this image I was hovering in my minds' eye much further afar than when I was a teenager. I was wondering about 'viewing' the galaxy as a series of habitats. So, whilst the strip of what looks like urban development might exist between vegetation zones, it might also be a metaphor placed against vast distance...the Universe. The strip of buildings or habitats seems to float above the background as if you could fly not only between and in front of things but behind them too. Yes, in my imagination I had gone way beyond Google Earth. 

Galaxy Strip  could be an artificial habitat created in outer space as an environment for humanity post-Earth? Indeed maybe a Dyson Sphere? It could be metaphoric galaxy? Or, it could be a suburb of Canberra, Australia's capital city - a city purposely designed, with green strips, lakes and more. 

DOWNWARD GAZE

I propose that aerial views in the 21st century take on a provocative energy that questions how far surveillance can go and how we might react to this. The downward gaze is repeated across the world as people gaze down to their phones, computers and iPads. As we gaze down, the surveillance from 'above' harvests our actions online, through GPS, imagery and more. Do we or can we notice? I wonder about this constant downward gaze! At worst it's akin to digging or wishing to dig an abyss - at best it's akin to navel gazing! 

What happens to a our ability to see multi dimensional perspectives where horizontal and upward gazes exercises our vision - literally and our minds - metaphorically?

Regular readers will recognise my interests in perspective, desires to un-tether landscape from Earth-bound horizons, cosmic possibilities, even the posthuman...and more.

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

I SPY

I Spy Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm 2014

Out of the 20 paintings I exhibited in my recent exhibition Untethering Landscape: From Earth-Bound Horizons I Spy [above] was my Mum's favourite. She had seen most of the paintings prior to the exhibition, although there were a couple of new ones. However, seeing the paintings leaning up against my studio walls is quite different to seeing them hanging in a gallery space. But, Mum did notice I Spy both at my studio and at the gallery, so there must be something about it that grabbed her attention.



Me at Untethering Landscape Brisbane September 2014
L to R: New World Habitability, Vacation Anyone? - Pale Blue Dot - Point Of View

I briefly wrote in a previous post called Waiting For The Beeps about I Spy.
'Yes. I have a concern that reliance on technology...even simple things like parking sensors and the like...will 'train' us to be unaware of our environment. We won't even think to do simple things like...look out the windows! How would we cope with the game I SPY?'


Playing I SPY
When my children were little I entertained them on long drives with games like I SPY. My Mum also played these sorts of games with me and my two brothers.

But, on long car trips these days children can be entertained by watching videos on screens imbedded in the car, computer games and the like. Their parents can also be entertained by gadgets or they can keep working! Yikes... even the driver can still work with hands-free phone systems enabling endless 'conferences' with clients and customers. At least, for the time being, the driver must still look out the windows, but other occupants don't need to. There is a possibility that a car can be full of people each with ear plugs connecting them to phone conversations, music and other audio distractions. Imagine...well we don't need to imagine because I think in some places it already happens...the occupants in a car can be oblivious to their external surroundings and even to their fellow occupants. Bonuses, I suppose, are fewer sibling fights and angry reprimands from frustrated parents!

But, what disappears with inattention to the environment? I suggest that landscape, in all its permutations, disappears. I've previously written a post called Disappearing Landscape

Spying and Surveillance
Spying has taken interesting twists and turns in the last couple of decades. Surveillance by governments of others, and their own citizens, has reached amazing detailed and technological heights. Indeed, the Wikileaks and Edward Snowden revelations have caused major concern, controversy as well as interest. Spying on spies! But, 'spying' on others is not only the realm of governments and their agencies, police and other security forces. 'Monitoring' of all kinds of information, online behaviour and more, by companies and individuals, is becoming common. People can be tracked via their computer or phone. They can be tracked via surveillance cameras, particularly in cities. Our actions, behaviours, likes, dislikes and more are collected as data which is then scrutinised for aberrations, memes, trends and so on.

The world is just one big 'EYE' and an 'EAR'

Watching...Listening...Watching...Listening................................like a nosey neighbour!

Yet, sometimes the nosey neighbour does notice things that, at the extreme, can save lives. Scrutiny, surveillance...spying...are part and parcel of 21st century life, for the good and the bad.

But, what about my painting I spy?
We also monitor and observe space, and have been doing so since human time began. Watching and observing the night sky has been a source of wonder over eons, giving birth to a wealth of knowledge and expression. Contemporary cosmological research, with its array of scientific and philosophical disciplines, has revealed a plethora of details about our Universe [and maybe Multiverse].

The search for extra terrestrial intelligence [SETI] involves scrutiny as well as enticements to communicate with us. Just imagine if we received an answer? But, maybe we have and just not noticed?

We do, however, use space to inhabit with satellites that are used to assist surveillance, of many kinds, back on Earth.

In my painting two circles hover, as if they are watching each other.

The small red one - 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with P'.
The multi-coloured one - 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with P'

PLANET!

Well maybe! But, neither 'planet' in I Spy has to be Earth...there are billions of galaxies and to suggest that we are the only ones watching and listening...spying...is intriguingly unlikely!

But, maybe my two coloured hovering balls are not planets...maybe one is a planet and the other a surveillance satellite?  Yet, they could be atoms, cells, thoughts, dust...star dust? It's up to you really!


Life Calling! Anyone There?
The painting below Life Calling! Anyone There? was inspired by the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. But, there's a twist...I think there's plenty of 'life' calling for attention here on Earth too.
I made a very short video with me chatting about this painting...it's below the painting.

 Life Calling! Anyone There? Oil on linen 70 x 140 cm 2014

 

 

 

Me discussing Life Calling! Anyone There?

TREE-OF-LIFE

ONLINE EXHIBITION OF TEN PAINTINGS

 

21 September - 21 November

Please visit my online exhibition at my website by clicking HERE

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

GALACTIC HORIZONS

                                Galactic Horizons And beyond Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

New discoveries in physics and cosmology are pushing our 'horizons' in all directions. The announcement this week of the discovery of the Higgs boson, has captured people's imaginations, taking possibility beyond previous limits. This quantum particle, propels the universal picture. Not only has the Higgs field been described as being like a superconductor, it is also transports imagination and ignites new questions.

My new painting Galactic Horizons And Beyond was started weeks ago, and as regular readers know, it fits within a 'cosmic' subtheme in my work. I have used my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life to create a 'scape', which may or may not be earth bound, but it is about life. It could be the edge of a galaxy, another planet, a grain of cosmic dust. It's up to you! Beyond, galaxies dance across a vast sky, some shifting closer and others receding.

As the universal [or maybe multiversal] world in which we live, reveals itself, I believe it becomes more evident that global and local perceptions are not enough. There needs to be more. There needs to be a cosmic perception too. One where we can see ourselves from the distant reaches of both the quantum and cosmic realms, where it becomes apparent that everything is connected. These perspectives could possibly... maybe more than likely... change how we view ourselves locally and globally, leading to new and more sustainable ways of living. We just have to imagine...the science invites us to!

IMAGINATIVE PLAY
Now I am going to have an imaginative play. I've been thinking about this Higgs field. Hey, what if it replicated the branches of trees? What if the field has variations, like there are many types of trees? If you think about the wind passing through the leaves of a tree, it passes differently according to the size, shape, etc of the leaves. I remember, in Goondiwindi, I planted a large garden. In it, I had a spinny of sheoaks. The wind whistled when it passed through the spinny of spiney long leaves. Yet, where I had mass planted eucalypts, the wind was not as restrained. It passed through more easily.

In September 2010 I wrote a post called 'Master Template'. In it I suggested that the tree may hold clues to the energy forces propelling the Universe and more. I wrote, I wonder if it holds the code to, what could be called, the master template. In my imagination I can 'see' how the tree, with its branches and roots, hints at the substance of the nano at the same time as hinting at the forces which propel the universal and vast. I wonder!!!!

SOME OTHER COSMIC POSTS

Auroboros
Cosmic Dust
Cosmology
Galaxial
Addicted To Surprise
Hovering


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.

PLUS

• Nindooinbah Woolshed Exhibition - September 1-2. I am one of about 11 artists invited to exhibit at this historical venue. Well known Brisbane Gallery Director Bruce Heiser will be opening the exhibition. Check out the flyer

AND, this great photo of me [below] with my dog, was taken recently by fabulous photographer Gillian von Niekerk from Vann Photography, for an article which will be appearing in the next Highlife Downs Living Magazine [Spring Edition] I will let everyone know when the article comes out!

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ON THE EDGE

On The Edge Gouache on paper 34.5 x 53.5 cm 2001

So, since Quiver finished a week ago I have cleaned out my studio, ready for me to start work again soon. In my clearing out I have re-discovered some old paintings, including On The Edge above. It was painted in 2001. I had forgotten I painted it and indeed was rather pleased when I saw it in my map drawer. I like it a lot! It has never been exhibited.

So, even in 2001 I was interested in galaxies, universes, mammoth spaces and places, but also the minutae of distance. This painting reminds me of my dreams...being on the edge of sleep, on the edge of the horizon! Such an intimate place, the edge of sleep, but what a massive dimension it becomes.

I like the way this painting appears to be a landscape...one of the edge of the planet, or maybe the galaxy...or maybe the universe? I also like the way it could be a microscopic view, a cross section of something much smaller than a galaxy of stars, but with the same miraculous intensity of one.

 STUDIO

The photo above is of my now clean studio. Well, I know, I know... it is not perfectly clean, but it is a lot cleaner than it was. You will notice the side of the hot water system on the right! I paint my works on paper in this room. The larger oil on linen paintings are created in my garage, which is a great studio.

VIDEOS

Just in case you missed them:

Two new videos!

Murray Darling Currency

Ouroboros

NEWS: FINALIST

And, some good news. My entry in the

SCOPE GALLERIES Art Award - Art Concerning Environment

has been selected as a finalist.

Click HERE to read more about it.

I shall keep you posted on how it all goes.

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

HOVERING

Hovering At The Centre Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

This painting above is a small 30 x 30 cm work. It was inspired by thoughts of vortexes, stillness, possibility and the potency of the archetypal tree-of-life symbol. I am reading another book by the Lord Astonomer, Martin Rees. This book 'Just Six Numbers' is entirely layperson readable, just like his book 'Our Final Century', which I have written about previously. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/04/idea-sketches.html   http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/presence.html

Well, a few things have got me excited. One is that prior to reading 'Just Six Numbers' I was pondering the phenomena of the vortex, literally as well as metaphorically. Regular readers will have read some of my 'vortex' posts. Rees writes about spirals and vortexes in cosmology eg: galaxies. Another source of excitement is Rees's chapter 'Primordial 'Ripples'. I was reading in bed a few nights ago, with my eyes falling out of their sockets due to tiredness, and I started to read the chapter and laughed.  It transfixed me, because prior to reading all about primoridal ripples, I painted 'Cosmic Frisson', which was inspired by ideas of ripples. I even called a recent post 'Ripples'. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ripples.html   http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/cosmic-frisson.html

So, back the painting above...Hovering At The Centre. I wanted to leave some space, because so many of my paintings are full of vast textures which only suggest space as a dimension beyond the surface. I wanted to create an image that included a sense of empty space, simultaneously vast and minute, like a portal or a vortex/spiral core. I wanted to create a sense of finding stillness, a place of possibility, alluding to a complexity that, whilst not understood can be sentiently felt, thus asking us to have faith.

At one level Hovering At The Centre is inspired by Rees's words, 'Most galaxies harbour a central hole as massive as millions of stars.' These central holes are 'black holes'. They defy explanation, but are discernible by scrutinising external forces such as gravity and light. But, this is where an artist's imagination is triggered. For me, my painting portrays a sense of life surrounding the 'black hole'. This is indicated by the tree-of-life motif, which suggests celestial systems finely balanced to stimulate the continuing expansion of the Universe. The tree-of-life is also gravity which stops the Universe imploding into black holes and perhaps surrending existence.

In Hovering At The Centre the circle or hole is like a portal, embraced securely by the tree-of-life. So, entering the portal may not be too bad, because it might be like being inside a big hug [worse case...a crushing hug!]! Portals are metaphors for choice, other dimensions, crossorads in life. Portals, do not have templates to follow, otherwise they'd not be portals, but merely glass doors through which we could see. Portals are not understood by criteria or agendas. If we ascribed these things to portals we limit ourselves and the potential opportunities offered by the unknown. Portals compel us to dream and imagine, and criteria and agendas are not good bedfellows.

Here is a link to another painting where I 'speak' about portals. The painting is called 'AH HAs' and sold at my exhibition FRISSON in March. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/02/ah-ahs.html

NEWS

My painting 'Halo' is one of  the 70 finalists for the 2010 Tattersall's $20,000 Art Prize, Brisbane. This year the prize is by invitation, so I am very excited to have been chosen as one of the exhibiting artists. The exhibition opens Wednesday 8 September.

On October 8 a rather interesting curated exhibition BAware will open at St. John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane. The exhibition is themed to the Millenium Goals to raise awarenss of gloabl issues of social justice, poverty and sustainability. I will have between 3 and 5 paintings in this exhibition. I will post updates over the next weeks leading up to the exhibition.

Until next time,

Kathryn