APPROPRIATING TITIAN'S 'SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE'

Ageless Gouache on paper 2003

 

In the early 2000s I painted a series of works on paper that dealt with love, marriage, divorce. 

If you are a regular reader, and thus aware of my more recent work - yes - there are no drones in this post! 

Part of the series included a series-within-a-series, where I appropriated Titian's early famous work Sacred and Profane Love ,1514 [below]. The painting is at the Borghese Gallery and Museum

Titian Sacred and Profane Love Oil on canvas 118 x 279 cm 1514

Sacred and Profane Love 

There has been much art historical discussion about the meaning of the Titian's painting. Questions like, which female figure represents sacred love, which represents profane love? There are questions over the title given to the painting too. Apparently the title Sacred and Profane Love may not have been recorded until the 17th century. However, there seems to be general consensus, due to various symbols in the painting, that love is a theme. For example, there is a cherub with wings, so it could be Cupid, and the clothed female figure holds a sprig of Myrtle, a symbol of marriage. This figure is also wearing what is considered bridal clothing for the period. And, the near-naked female figure is thought to be Venus, Goddess of  love, beauty, sex and fertility. I remember reading, somewhere, that the painting is a bridal portrait, but unusual for the times, because there is no husband included. Because the two women look very similar, they might represent multiple aspects of the bride - the sacred and profane, romance and lust, defiance and supplication? 

My Appropriations

In my appropriations Ageless and A Different Landscape I have replaced the distant small village, seen in Titian's painting, with modern cityscapes. In 2003, this was reference to me moving from the country to the city, when I got divorced. It could also demonstrate that themes of love traverse time. In Ageless, the dotted line is like a highway, a metaphor perhaps?

In Jigsaw and Love Puzzle the pastorale scene depicted by Titian is abstracted, with the figures merging into the landscape, becoming one with it. I have previously written about Love Puzzle in regard to landscape, and the image of the bride in the landscape. I have a whole other series dwelling on this theme too!

And, Cupid does not get a gig in any of my Titian-appropriated paintings! I am not sure why...

The face-less women elide the opportunity for portraiture to be considered. There is no gaze. And, in art historical terms this has implications - the history of the female gaze in art is oft discussed. Manet's appropriation of Titian's Venus of Urbino  [1534] to create Olympia [1863] provides just one example of where the significance of the female gaze is scrutinised - from allure to defiance. But in both cases who is the gaze and its inflection meant for. Many would say - men.

Jigsaw Gouache on paper 2003

In Monolithic Matriarchs the women are faceless, except for red circles. For me, in 2003, this indicated strength, a way to solidify the power of matriarchy. There are no gazes to be mistaken as seductive or defiant, no expressions that give away secrets. The six women repeat the figure of the bride in Titian's painting. The repetition reveals the powerfulness of her figure. The morphed shape of Venus is also repeated in the foreground. She forms the landscape on which the monolithic matriarchs are positioned. Love, lust, fertility and sex are not discarded in the matriarchy - they are private. 

So, what does it all mean - its up to you!

Cheers,

Kathryn

                                                Love Puzzle Gouache on paper 2003

                                             A Different Landscape Gouache on paper 2003

                                           Monolithic Matriarchs Gouache on paper 2003
 

BIRTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND FAITH

                                      Birth Of Knowledge and Faith Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

Birth Of Knowledge and Faith is one of 40 finalists in the 2012 Mandorla Art Award Perth, Western Australia.You can see the winning entry and two highly commended paintings on the Mandorla Facebook Page

Here's the Award brief, taken from the Mandorla website
The Mandorla Art Award employs a thematic spiritual inspiration that changes with each exhibition. These inspirations are defined by quotations from the Bible and all participating artists are requested to interpret these in their own way. The theme for 2012 is ‘born of a woman’, taken from Galatians (4:4).

As regular readers will know, the theme of 'born of a woman', was definitely something that would inspire me!

Galatians is in the New Testament and the quote 'born of a woman' speaks about the birth of Jesus [Christ], as the son of God, born to a woman of flesh and blood, Mary. My metaphoric reading of the extended passage is that the Christ entity/spirit is born within, and to, all of us... as faith. The process of 'birth' delves into the potency of the sacred feminine impulse which exists within us all, man and woman. I have previously written about the sacred feminine. Please check out ADAM AND EVE...AND THAT TREE-Online Exhibition

In Birth Of Knowledge and Faith I have referenced both the Old and New Testaments. How? Well, I was thinking about the two pivotal female characters of both texts, Eve and Mother Mary. As regular readers will know, I see Eve's taking from 'that tree', as the birth of knowledge...that the arrival of 'evil' is representative of the introduction of opposites and the resultant 'space' between them. It is in this 'space' that knowledge in all its extremes and forms is possible. Without antimonies, and the close and far distances in the space between them, there is no nuance...no knowledge...or the potential for it.  Thank you Eve for being brave enough to take from 'that tree'!

Knowledge and faith, go hand in hand. For me they are dance partners taking us on a journey through the close and far distances between antimonies, where we have potential to 'find' ourselves by experimenting; by finding out who we are not, in order to know who we are. I have previously written that I have faith in complexity, because if things were merely simple, lack of depth would destroy hope... and faith. Please check out FAITH IN IMAGINATION and MAJESTY AND ORDER

Here is my Mandorla Art Award artist's statement for Birth of Knowledge and Faith

Two transcultural/religious trees-of-life/knowledge emanate from a woman’s outstretched arms and feet. She is the ‘sacred feminine’.  In forming a circle she ‘sings’ and ‘dances’ her elemental grace of life continuance. More specifically I was thinking of two biblical women, one from the Old Testament and one from the New, Eve and Mary.

As Eve took from the tree she gave ‘birth’ to Knowledge in the spaces between antimonies. As Mother Mary gave birth to Jesus, the ‘Light of the World’, she also gave birth to Faith.

I imagine that as Eve took from the tree, the world cascaded into the colours and hues that allowed Adam and Eve to ‘see’ each other. I ‘see’ colour as representing Knowledge. In this painting the multi coloured trees and the ‘sacred feminine’ figure are surrounded by halo-like white light. The two trees also meet in a pulse of white. This white light represents Faith.

                                                          DETAIL Birth of Knowledge and Faith

Birth of Knowledge and Faith, also takes on a cosmic appearance, with the circle seemingly hovering in space. I was determined to make the painting look like the birth of the universe ...eliciting the beauty of the Big Bang...enticing us to place human history against that of the universe...and more. I was determined to create an image which 'spoke' of portals...because both knowledge and faith, together and separately, are 'portals' through which our psyches can travel, in search of spirit, meaning, hope. Portals are representative of birth canals, as well as promises of rebirth as re-entering takes us further into the complexity of life. I have previously written about portals...many times...but please check out BEAUTY AS A PORTAL

I was determined to evoke the concept of Mother...Mother Earth, Mother Nature...that eternal propulsion, the urge to create which exists within us all and everything, even as we know death is part of life. Creation and death are also dance partners on the 'stage' where knowledge and faith perform their ebb and flow steps. 

Birth of Knowledge and Faith is a painting which sits very comfortably along side a few others. Here's a selection:

Auroboros Oil on linen 122 x 153 cm

 Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm

    Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 150 cm

 Beyond The Dark Night of The Soul Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm and also HERE

Love Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm

Cheers,
Kathryn

ELEMENTAL DANCE

Elemental Dance Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

 

I hope those of you who read my last post 'Love-Valentine's Kind' enjoyed a bit of fun. Dancing is also fun! It is also transformative in a number of diverse ways. It is great exercise, so can help with weight reduction. It can be a very social passtime where frissons of romance blossom. It can take an individual to places within as they lose themselves in the energy of movement and music. I've seen my daughter dancing in ways which indicate she has lost herself in the moment. I remember the same feelings when I was younger and used to prance around my parents' living room. I have seen how dancing, with the need to remember sequences and work as a team when in a group, assist in alleviating attention deficit issues and sequential thinking blockages. I know dance can express more than words can say...it's like a painting!

The Whirling Dervishes are, of course, one of the most famous examples of the transformative power of dancing and movement. Check out this website for more information. The repeated whirling movement mirroring the revolving or circular motions of the universe within us and beyond to the multiverse.

In the painting above 'Elemental Dance' I have tried to capture Mother Nature's embodiment of life, the quiver, the quake and the jazz! Everything is in a constant state of movement, whether quickened or slowed. Life is a symphony! It is an ongoing one propelled by nature's pulse. The painting below 'Into The Symphony' is an older painting, but 'speaks' of the nuances of life's rhythm.

In 'Elemental Dance' the female figure representing Mother Nature is the link between everything. The two trees-of-life erupting from her head and feet connect her to all seemingly opposite elements. The  red umbilical-like cord which connects her heart with the larger tree-of-life is the universal/ multiversal pulse.

We are dance partners with Mother Nature! Sometimes we take steps that do not synchronise, such as plundering resources in ways that are detrimental to the environment. But, the dance will go on   sometimes with tempo and other times with restorative slow waltzes.

I consider my work at one level to be quite political in a provocative sense rather than an overt one.

Regular readers will know I have written about this before, particularly in reference to beauty. By

harnessing beauty, love and compassion we have the capacity to neuter violent and agressive argument. The very act of harnessing then can be seen as the supreme political act.

BEAUTY POSTS

Lifeblood

Beauty and The Vortex

Beauty as a Portal

Beauty Gives Hope a Chance

Into The Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/09/into-symphony.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/09/into-symphony-again.html

COUNT DOWN

For Everyone: Words and Paintings

Book Launch!

Details HERE

APRIL QUIVER

17-29 April

Solo exhibition

Graydon Gallery, Merthyr Rd, New Farm Brisbane

QUIVER is an exhibition of new paintings inspired by concepts of Mother Nature. Using the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox explores distance from the nano to the multiversal. In this distance where perspective, both literal and metaphoric, takes on multi layered dimensions, the quiver …tremble….vibration…of all life reminds us of the shared rhythmic pulse across time and space. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

P.S. If you are looking for THE perfect Valentine's gift, then make sure you check out 'Love...Valentine's Kind'

LOVE...Valentine's Kind

                                                    Sending Love oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

So, I have decided to be a little light hearted for this post. I've decided to focus on love...yes love....the romantic kind.  Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

I have uploaded a few paintings which I think would make great Valentine's Day presents. Why, because they are about love, some are a little sexy, a couple remind us of the Adam and Eve adventure. That story which is so often very simplistically interpreted eg: man was lead astray by a woman!

So let's begin:
Sending Love above, is my interpretation of love emmanating from a central force eg: heart! The heart is the tree-of-life, which is a symbol of life, itself signified by a pulse...heart!  Love is pure, hence the white and pale tones of the tree and the emmanating light which cascades from it. In my mind, we have the capacity to conjure great feelings of love, and then send this love, as white light, out into the world or to the people we love. Our imaginations hold a force which extends beyond us.

Into My Galaxy Oil on linen 85 x 147 cm

Into My Galaxy...well what more can I say! When in love the 'galaxy' is just the two people who are in love. Their own world, where sparks fly, frisson seduces, time collapses and perfection reigns.  Now, this painting, as it has been pointed out to me, can also be read as the moment of fertilization! Regular readers will know of my great interest in collapsing perspective. So, we have travelled from a galactic perspective to a very intimate internal one. The latter being the moment of life's first quiver, a culmination of an act of love.

Forever Connected Oil on linen 120 x 80 cm

Forever Connected is a painting which 'speaks' about the connections forged by shared stories across time and cultures. On a macro level we all share the same story...the one about how the universe/multiverse was created! Focusing in a little Forever Connected refers to the story of the burning bush and Moses. This story is shared by the three Abrahamaic religions, thus connecting Islam, Christianity and Judaism forever. And focusing n a littel more, the love of two people also forges a connection across time through children and other relationships...and this connection continues even in divorce and after death! 

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm

Compassion is a really beautiful painting! It is currently hanging in my sunroom and many people have commented on it. This painting was also selected for the Blake Prize Directors' Cut online exhibition. The paintings selected for this were shortlisted for finalist selection in the main Blake Prize, but did not quite make it. http://www.blakeprize.com.au/galleries/directors-cut

Two trees-of-life meet in a blaze of light, their branches connecting and embracing to form a circle, which seems to be many things at once...an opening to a portal, a crown, an embrace, a celestial entity.

Compassion is a very important ingredient in any relationship, whether it be between countries or individuals. This is the post where I write about my thoughts on compassion and Compassion http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/compassion.html

Remembering The reason Why Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

Sometimes, in a relationship, one needs to remember why. Please check out my previous post HERE

In The Garden of Eden Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm

This is a painting not simply about Adam and Eve, but about men and women. please check out my previous post on this painting HERE

'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

The title of the painting above says it all really...don't you think?

Hot Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm unframed

So, back to a bit of fun. Hot is a small painting and it is meant to be HOT! Sprouting wings, red, swirling colour...up to you!

The paintings above range from $300 AUD up to $6,800 AUD [Excluding packaging and freight]

[Prices correct as of 11-1-12, but will change as time goes on. if you are reading this in many months time, please check for updated prices]

AND, I do have many other paintings on my WEBSITE

Some paintings are listed with prices. Please contact me via my website for any price enquiries.

AND

Please check out my BOOK LAUNCH SITE

For Everyone: Words and Paintings

NEXT EXHIBITION

QUIVER

17-29 April

Graydon Gallery

Cheers,

Kathryn

PS...Please click on the 'share' buttons below if you have Twitter and Facebook accounts...or any other sharing social network membership. It all helps spread the word. Thanking you in advance.

KNOWING STILLNESS

Knowing Stillness Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

It's been over a week since I blogged. I have been busy. Plus, I've been working on 'Knowing Stillness' [above]. I'd started this painting at the same time I started 'Infinity', the painting I wrote about in my last post. By starting, I mean, creating the background movement of colour. This part of my creative process, sees me getting covered in paint and carrying the faint whiff of 'eua de turps' with me for a few days. Yes, the initial process can take a number of days, as I normally use 2-3 layers of pant, but each layer has to dry before the next layer is applied.

I'd had the idea for 'Knowing Stillness' in my head for awhile. I wanted to play with perspective [regular readers will know I love to do that!] by hinting at notions of the 'beyond'. However, this 'beyond' can be the emotional and spiritual depths within us and/or the extremes of the universe outside of our physical bodies, but with imagination, possibly reachable.

The title 'Knowing Stillness' can be read a couple of ways ie: that stillness is all knowing, or that we can get to know stillness. I like to think that multiple interpretations can be absorbed, so that stillness is both knowing and known.

In stillness we can see, hear and feel things we did not could be heard, seen or felt. In stillness the distance of time and space collapses. As regular readers know I have written about stillness before.

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/knowledge-of-stillness.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/in-stillness.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/stillness.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/listening-to-stillness.html

In 'Knowing Stillness' I wanted to capture a sense of discovery...not the intrepid Indiana Jones kind, but a more resonating revelatory kind where you sense that you already know something, but have forgotten. The kind of discovery which reveals your presence at the 'Beginning'. Indeed, if we are cosmic dust, then at some level, possibly imbedded in our DNA, is knowledge we currently do not grasp. Yet, there are hints, and in stillness, we may discover more than just tantalising hints.

The painting is part landscape, with the multiple trees forming maybe a mountain, the edge of the earth, or maybe the edge of the universe...or the edge of something seen under a microscopic. Yes, this is my 'play' with persepective, the possibility of the painting being simultaneously an investigation of the nano and vast...mirrors the intimate and vast depths of our inner psyches . The trees are my much loved transcultural/religious trees-of-life, linked together to form life, to create systems, to energise.

If you look closely, the 'sky' is dotted with white circles. For me, these represented the possibility of other universes...that we are not a universe, but a multiverse. As I have written before, Martin Rees's book 'Just Six Numbers' inspired me to visually articulate some things which had perplexed me since I was a child.  'How big is the sky?', 'What is beyond?'. Here's my previous post 'Multiverse' http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/multiverse.html

Yet, these white circles need not be just other universes 'out there'. They can represent the other universes within us, within the depths of our psyches. Last week I attended a fascinating lecture at the Qld Jung Society. It was entitled 'Technology and Soul' and presented by Dr. Glen Slater. I came away from this lecture concerned about the seduction of technology which sees us reliant on virtual life type situations, immediacy, bites of information and constant entertainment...and so on. Of course, there can be major benefits, such as an immediate response from a doctor on the ground if someone falls ill on a plane [happened to a friend of mine recently], virtual consultations in any kind of emergency and so on. However, as we skim the surface of virtual life, social networking, immediacy disguised as urgency, are we creating a superficial persona, easily polished with the latest and greatest device or application, but with increasingly nothing behind it?

So, let's not lose touch with the depths within. Let's not let technology hijack imagination. Beware of the narcisstic imperative that suggests plished perfection is progress. Let stillness reaquaint us with the imperfect, where courage takes us in multiple directions within and without. Allow stillness to reveal the questions we did not know we needed to ask. No polishing required...just digging with love and imagination. Stillness knows!

NEWS

On August 4 I am presenting at the Qld Jung Society monthly session. Here's the link to all the details.

http://www.jungqld.com/2011-8-brimblecombe-fox/

September: I have been invited to participate in the Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize. It opens September 7.

September 8- October 8: My solo exhibition 'Paradise' at Purgatory Artspace, 170 Abbotsford St First Floor], Melbourne. Opening Friday 9 September

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

SENDING LOVE and HEART

                                Super Mum oil on board 30 x 30 cm

I am a single parent...a single mother...and have been for 11 years. My children were 8, 5 and 2, eleven years ago. I cannot remember much of the first 5 to 6 years of our new life in Brisbane. It was just so, so frantic.

My children are older now, and don't need the kind of supervision and attention small children demand. However, my housekeeping standards have not returned to those I held dear in 1999. I let go of a huge amount of pride in housekeeping between 2000-2006 and I now don't really notice unmade beds, piles of ironing, crumbs on the kitchen bench! Though, I do have a hissy fit if the kitchen rubbish bins get so full that the rubbish starts filling the airspace above  ie: they're doomed to collapse [can't the kids see that????]!

Being the single parent, who has the children most of the time, is incredibly demanding. But, it is also very rewarding to witness and be part of their lives...and also to have others comment on how grounded, gorgeous and mature they are...that makes my heart sing!

As an artist, I work at home and this has been fantastic, because I have been available for my children. I am at home when they get home from school, I can pick them up from school or from whatever sport and other extra-curricular activities they undertake. I have been able to collect them when I've been called by the school to say they are sick. I have attended a range of sports carnivals, music recitals and so on. One of my children was very sporty at primary school and was a champion at a variety of sports....so I trod the well worn track to a number of school, district and regional titles...I think we made it to a couple of State ones too. My attendance was enthusiatically welcomed when the children were primary school age, before they started thinking I was totally embarrassing...yep teenager time! 'Mum, why can't you dress like the other Mums?'...well.... if your Mum is an artist....!

But, this all sounds very much like many Mums and Dads. The only thing is...when you do it on your own, day in and day out, it is exhausting. There are other elements which people may not think about...like...when either of my eldest children had early morning [ie: 6.30 am] sports training, I had to wake the youngest to take her too. I could not leave her at home alone. Her teachers often commented on how tired she seemed some days.

So, I think you will understand my willingness to be involved in two curated fundraising exhibitions to be held in Brisbane. They are::

• The Women's Legal Service Qld From the Heart exhibition http://www.wlsq.org.au/index.html Opening Friday 20 May 6 pm till late. All the details, exhibiting artists etc are on the website.
• The ACT FOR Kids exhibition. http://www.whitecanvas.tv/gallery/images/stories/exhibitions/docs/ACT_for_Kids_Invite.jpg Opening Friday 13 May

In both cases funds raised go towards helping provide services to women [WLSQ], and to children who have been abused [ACT for Kids].

In both cases the artwork is selected by a curator, and then hung be the curator.

                               From The Heart  Oil on linen 85 x 147 cm 2008

This painting above, serendipitously titled 'From The Heart' is one of ten paintings being auctioned at the Women's Legal Service 'From The Heart' exhibition. The curator has selected another 3 of my paintings for the general exhibition. If you are interested in bidding please make contact with the WLSQ. This is my short artist's statement for 'From The Heart':

We can send love to anyone/anything anywhere at anytime. What it 'looks' like will be different for each person. When I imagine sending love I imagine a white light emanating from my heart to encompass the person, thing or the Earth...and yes even the universe. In this painting the tree-of-life cascades as white light to encompass great distances.

                                Sending Love Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2009

The painting above 'Sending Love' will be in the ACT for Kids exhibition, along with 3 other of my paintings.

The statement above, for the painting From The Heart is certainly exemplified in this painting as well. I chose to enter it for selection to the ACT for Kids exhibition, because I feel it embodies the sentiments and emotions people feel when confronted with the sad stories, lived daily by abused children.

Here are the websites again:

•  http://www.wlsq.org.au/index.html 
• http://www.whitecanvas.tv/gallery/images/stories/exhibitions/docs/ACT_for_Kids_Invite.jpg

This post is a departure from my posts and paintings about water and coal seam gas! But, hey I'm sending everyone LOVE!

Cheers,
Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/

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

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

The World Turned Upside Down Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

HERE COMES THE BRIDE
In 2003 I held a solo exhibition called 'Here Comes The Bride' at Brisbane's Soapbox Gallery. The exhibition consisted of a number of oil paintings plus over 70 works on paper which were displayed montage style on the gallery walls. The over arching umbrella idea was to 'play' with and explore the image of the bride in the landscape which has been a recurring theme in art history.

Now...this is where it got personal, because I had literally been the young bride in the landscape ie: I married at the age of 21 and went to live in western Queensland with my husband in a small rural community [population around 5,000] called Goondiwindi. After University I had worked as a curatorial assistant at the National Gallery in Canberra...but there were no national galleries or even galleries [except a craft shop] in Goondiwindi! When I had the exhibition 'Here Comes The Bride' in 2003 I had been divorced for a couple of years and had been living in Brisbane, after spending 18 years living in Goondiwindi.

So...the exhibition was a little angsty. I did not see it at the time, but friends did!

The image above The World Turned Upside Down depicts the bride in the bottom left corner looking a little frantic as she tries to decipher why everything is upside down. Her world, which includes her dreams for the future, are all of sudden changed. This bride is situated in a rural or pastorale landscape, yet she seems absorbed by it... as if it is quick sand.

The exploration of the bride in the landscape theme brought a realisation that young women who marry and move to rural environments can be described as not being 'in' the landscape as some kind of observer or object, but rather they are absorbed or consumed by it. The landscape consumes them as they give their spirit, energy and vitality to their communities and families. When [and if] they leave, traces of their spirit are left. Also, the land and landscape never leaves them, because it burrows into their psyche like a umbilical river.

APPROPRIATION OF TITIAN'S SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE
But, I won't go on about this aspect of the exhibition, because there was another that I really enjoyed 'playing' with. ' I was inspired to recontextualise or appropriate Titian's famous painting Sacred and Profane Love. Here's a link to an image and some information http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eamor.htm This painting is imbedded in the art historical theme of the bride in the landscape as it is a painting to celebrate a wedding with the bride, accompanied by Venus and a distracted Cupid, set against a pastorale scene. However, it is an unusual wedding painting for the sixteenth century because the groom is absent. This and the look in the bride's eyes got me thinking!

Is the bride feeling like her world will be turned upside down? Is she thinking of her future or even a lost love? Is earthly love a dream...as perhaps the presence of Venus and Cupid's distraction suggests? Does the idyllic pastorale scene suggest some kind of quarantining of the young woman from worldy activities? These sort of questions are as pertinent now as they would have possibly been 500 years ago. In fact, love was pondered upon voraciously by poets, writers, artists. There is still a voracious appetite for romance today even though it is often hidden behind explicitly sexual song lyrics, graphic films or turned into Vampire love!

I painted a series of images which took components of Sacred and Profane Love and re-contextualised them to 'speak' with a contemporary voice, but one which clearly created a link back to the past. I used the figure of the bride in all, but one, of my paintings. Venus is evident in all, but I have left Cupid out, although he is always actually 'present' in absentia because he exists, albeit in a distracted state, in the earlier painting. I recreated the pastorale scene as either an all-consuming landscape or as a scene with skyscrapers hovering in the distance. The latter represents my dream ie: to live in the city, enjoy a more sophisticated cultural and intellectual life and resurrect my career.

The paintings from the series are all below.

Woman Child Dream Gouache on paper 30 x 42 xm unframed 2003

 

There are deliberately no commas in this painting's title. I wanted to convey that the woman and child are the same person and the dream that existed for the child still exists as a memory for the woman. In the painting the bride's self as a child seems to be transfixed by Venus. Like many little girls I used to dream of my wedding day and this little girl in this painting is me, but also every other woman who still carries the 'little girl' memories of herself inside her. We need to be compassionate towards ourselves! The city in the background replaces the small village in Sacred and Profane Love, yet the strip of rain in the far horizon looms with both hope and fear. Regular readers of my BLOG will recongise the strip of rain as a recurring motif in my work. 

With Contemporary Eyes Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

 

In this painting I have chosen to depict only the bride and Venus. I am asking the viewer to see the painting with contemporary eyes to search for questions that have been asked for hundreds of years. These questions link us. The striped lines around the bride bring or transform her into the contemporary space, almost protecting her as Venus seems to be simultaneously disappearing and re-configuring?

Looking For The Answer Gouache on pape 30 x 42 cm 2003

 

So... in this image the bride and Venus seem to grow out of the landscape or are they being absorbed by it? How are we to know 'love', or is the only true love found in Heaven, as Venus maybe suggesting? In fact, the white background is suggestive of some kind of heavenly place! This painting represents some kind of transformation which I suspect happens as time collapses and the past and present collide. This is one of the powerful aspects of apropriation. Even though I have not faithfully copied Titian's painting [and why would I!?] there were visual, emotional, and art historical aspects imbedded in his painting that seemed to invite me to open up a conduit through time.

Ageless Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

 

The search for, the experience and the understanding of love are ageless quests. Is 'quest' the right word? Maybe it isn't, but in this painting the broken lines represent the lines on the highways I drove out west...endless driving into the distance. The concept of a 'journey' is defintely an appropriate one when thinking of love.
 

A Different Landscape Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2003

This painting proposes a different landscape. The city has moved to the foreground of the image. A new life seems possible. The bride is absent, but is she? Maybe she is in the city with Venus watching over or beckoning her?

Jigsaw Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

Love Puzzle Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

The last two paintings play with the idea that love is a puzzle which is, in fact, maybe why we pursue it, even in our dreams! Nothing like a puzzle to engage us. Indeed as the bride's gaze in Sacred and Profane Love suggests, love was a puzzle 500 years ago too.

APPROPRIATION
In my last BLOG post I said I'd write something about appropriation. Well, I have done this by writing about my own work. For me appropriation is a conscious and deliberate activity that in the first instance is stimulated and then driven by intellectual catalysts which inform the artist's choices of materials, subject, positioning and even how the work is exhibited etc. Other issues such as aesthetic or creative ones are mediated by the intellectual activity of repositioning, recontextualising another artist's or creator's work or aspects of the work. It needs to be more than just simply clever or interesting.

Cheers,

Kathryn

FRISSON - a thrill!

Beyond The Dark Night Of The Soul Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2009

Love Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2009

FRISSON UPDATE

Everything is falling into place just so well. It's like it was all just meant to happen! I am being interviewed this Sunday 28 Feb @ 1pm, by Richard Lancaster on 99.7 FM. So, if you're at home, driving in the car, gardening with the radio on...please tune in! Apologies to all my BLOG visitors from overseas...you won't be able to listen in.

The two paintings above will be in FRISSON and regular readers will have seen them before. However, I thought I would upload them again. Beyond The Dark Night Of The Soul http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/11/beyond-dark-night-of-soul.html and Love http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html

FRISSON @ Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane.

Opening Thursday 18 March 5.30-8pm

Exhibition Dates 16-28 March

PAINTING UPDATE

I am still working on the painting I wrote about in my last BLOG. The one exploring horizons, strips of rain, hope, distance, perspective and aura. It is nearly finished. Once it is finished I will attempt to take an excellent photo and upload it on my BLOG.

I already know at least one person who likes this new work ...a delivery man who dropped off the cases of wine I had ordered for FRISSON'S opening. As he was leaving and passed by my easel, he stopped and said quite emphatically, 'Oh, I like this!'. He then had a close look at it and then stepped a few steps backwards to have another look.

Well, I was thrilled, not only because he liked the painting, but he did exactly what I hope viewers will do when viewing my paintings. Regular readers will know what this is. And...that is...looking at my work at both close and far distances, in a manner which almost mimics the steps I take as I paint up close and then step back to view my progress. Whether it is up close or at a distance I am engaging two main sources to critically analyse my work. These two sources or faculties, are my eyes of eye balls and pupils, and my mind's eye. The two work simultaneously, but differently depending on whether I am close or far from my work.


ART AND THE BRAIN

In my recent post about my painting Love, which is above, I wrote about my fascination with Dr. Norman Doidge's book 'The Brain That Changes Itself'. I pondered upon the potential of looking at art to change and /or create new brain maps. Please have a look at my Love post to read more http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html
In this post I mentioned the experience of new ideas tantalisingly appearing only to slip away before I can take grasp. I wondered if this was, in fact, my brain in the process of change.
Today I was trapezing...well actually driving, but it felt like trapezing..around and I was on my own, because I had dropped the children off at their various activities [this included soccer training at 6.30 am...and we do this twice a week, and on 2 different days we have dancing at 7 am...plus the rest, ye gads!] Anyway, I felt a new idea being born in my mind, and I consciously took hold of it!
This idea 'saw' me 'see' the world as a brain, with its many 'maps' in various states of health and dis-ease, activity and inertia, creation and death. It struck me that negativity is re-enforced by the repetitive actions of the mass media. Anything which is repeated becomes habitual, and as we all know, habits then create needs and neediness. The mass media has fed the world's 'brain map' for negativity and negative behaviour, whether it be [mindless!] celebrity silliness, the voyeuristic cruelty of reality tv or the death of war.

Some art mimics mass media presentation and assists in the perpetuation of, an almost, idolatry of pervasive negativity diguised as entertainment. But, maybe the kind of art which is distant from mass media considerations, content and delivery, holds clues to alternative 'habits' which could form new world 'brain maps' or enhance existing more healthy ones. As I have written before, focusing on positive elements and issues, does not mean a lack of understanding of the negative forces within society. It just means that these are consciously ellided. This, in itself indicates balance.
Cheers,
Kathryn

JIGSAW

                                                 Love Puzzle Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

                                                        Jigsaw Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

TWO PAINTINGS FROM 2003

Jigsaw and Love Puzzle are two works on paper from a larger series of work centred around the bride. These two paintings belong to a subset of about 5-6 paintings each appropriating Titian's famous painting Sacred and Profane Love which is a bridal portrait, but unusual for the time as the husband is not present. Venus, the God of Love, hovers with a distracted Cupid focused not on anyone else but on playing. The young bride gazes out of the painting but not at the viewer who wonders what lies behind her eyes. These three characters are placed against a beautiful pastorale scene. Venus's drapes indicate some kind of action yet the remainder of the painting is measured and contemplative. One wonders about love and its expression in the sixteenth century. And we also wonder about love and its expression in the 21st century!

I am really fond of this series of paintings, so I thought they deserved a posting.

This link will take you to an image of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love
http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eamor.htm


Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com