FASHION

                                                              'Planet $' Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

I've been travelling...and have had a fabulous time. However...

I personally think that the ubiquity of fashion is the demise of identity. The so-called high fashion shops such as Prada, YSL, Ferragamo, Gucci, Armani etc line the better avenues of cities all over the world. In my mind creating a blandness that spoils local identity. It also engenders disappointment in the visitor to that city...well that's how my daughter and I felt. Then there are the not-so-high fashion shops that also spread their insidious sameness eg: Zara, Mango, H&M etc.

Walking into these shops...actually just passing by them...suspends you from locality. You could be anywhere...even in a kind of suspended world that is not about a unique locale...but about a recognition of sameness...the possibility of conformity to so much more than just style. Obviously the seepage of fashion into, what seems like, the four corners of the world is all about money. Why else would one dilute one's affective 'personality'?

But, it is not all depressing news. In Berlin, Prague and Budapest I saw some fabulous designs, but normally by accident. These boutiques are ones you discover around the corner from the main boulevards and squares. Dressed in one's tourist gear (ie: the same jumper worn for days, running shoes because your other shoes hurt with all the walking, camera around your neck etc) you feel like a goose wherever you are!

But, the insidious spread of certain types of fashion got me thinking about my painting...a small one...called 'Planet $'. It was inspired by the $ value placed on resources...questioning notions of 'value'.

But fashion is also a culprit...and in a sense a victim as well.

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

LAUNCHED

My book FOR EVERYONE: WORDS AND PAINTINGS was launched on Thursday night. And it was a fantastic night too. Scott Emerson MP, Queensland State Member for Indooroopilly and Shadow Minister for the Arts [as well as Transport and Multicultural Affairs] launched FOR EVERYONE. Around 90 people came to the event, on a miserably wet night too. Thank you to all of you!

I've uploaded some photos of the exhibition and some from the launch.

The exhibition showcases the thirty original paintings inside FOR EVERYONE. Click here for more details.

The exhibition is at FireWorks Gallery 52A Doggett St, Newstead, Brisbane.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm Saturday 10 am - 4 pm
07 3216 1250

Good News!!!
The exhibition has been extended until Friday March 2nd! Thursday night extended to 7.30 pm!

Achievement, Alone, Excitement Within, Asleep: All gouache on paper

Dare to Be, Behind The Mask, Inspiration Calling, Disappearance: All gouache on paper

 Keyhole, Listen, Inner Child, Beyond The Boundaries: All gouache on paper

Now to some photos from the launch night!

Me with Scott Emerson MP...and FOR EVERYONE

Speech making Me with Scott Emerson MP and the Director of FireWorks, Michael Eather watching.

Scott Emerson MP, Me and Director of FireWorks Gallery, Michael Eather.

Book sales are going really well. Two people returned today to buy more books! Plus a number of people who could not get to the launch came along today and bought books.

Please click HERE for more details about FOR EVERYONE...where to buy etc. It is available online many online book selling sites plus GOMA and Queensland Art Gallery Bookstores.

It is also available as an e-book...BUT only in colour in the USA with a Kindle Fire

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ONE

A few posts ago I said I was starting a large work which I wanted to appear like a wave of colour or a map of colour where boundaries fused. Well...the painting is nearly finished. The image above is me working on some of the last bits! My arm gets very tired!

My idea was to use my tree-of-life motif pouring it over the canvas with a multitude of colours creating from a distance a vision of a wave...yet up close the viewer sees where colours begin and end. I played with the idea of how a map when viewed up close will clearly show where boundaries exist yet when seen from a distance the boundaries are indiscernible. Thus, reminding us that the Earth is one planet with manmade markings meaning nothing when viewed with a distant perspective. As readers of this BLOG know I am very interested in both literal and metaphoric perspective with the latter holding clues to how we might negotiate a globalised world in which we live locally.

I was thinking about the colour which is released from white light hitting a prism. Ultimately all colours emanate from the one source. Humanity and life are like the colours released by a prism...ultimately we are one. We all share the common signs of life ie: breath and pulse. Plus we share the urge for identity which ultimately manifests in the creation of culture and religion, which unfortunately often lead to conflict. Yet, the primal urge for identity is the same.

I believe deep thought about perspective will reveal new pathways for peace on Earth and compassionate negotiation [of oursleves and others] of the distance between the global and local.

I am calling the painting 'One'.

One Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2009