DISAPPEARING LANDSCAPE?

Disappearance Gouache on paper 37.6 x 28 cm 1995

This is a post about landscape...so just wade through the car bits at the beginning...there is a context...I promise.

WINDOW SHOPPING
I have been 'window shopping' for a new car. Regular readers will know that this is something I do from time to time. For years, in fact...and as yet no new car!

In an earlier post about cars 'Looking Out The Windows' I wrote about the propensity for sloped backs, as a design feature, in new SUVs and station wagons. Damn annoying when you want to pack an exhibition of paintings.

My latest window shopping exercise has frustrated me for a different reason. This time it's the diminishing size of  rear and rear-side windows. Various bulk heads and side panels seem to have taken up more space than in the past. The result is reduced vision...of eye ball and pupil kind.

But!

All is not lost...apparently. When I mention my concern to car salespeople I'm told cameras, parking sensors and more, not only compensate for smaller sized windows, but provide the driver with much more 'visibility'.

Then, when I ask, 'But, what if systems fail?' the response is close to incredulity...how could I even think that this might happen? To confound the issue more, and to the embarrassment of my car-loving daughter who window shops with me, I ask, 'But, what if systems do fail and humanity has lost the ability to look out the windows and therefore has lost all the accompanying dexterities of spatial distance, understanding of speed, ratios of all kinds and general environment awareness?' In response to this, I am normally given a what-are-you-talking-about-mad-lady stare by the salesperson... and a death stare from my daughter.

LOSS
But, seriously...if we don't think to look out the windows [literally and metaphorically]...I'd suggest there's a plethora of things that would be lost. One of these is landscape. Yep, landscape, the very thing we drive in, on, about, into, over and under! As technology increases its infiltration into our everyday lives, to the point that we rely on it to remember for us, orientate us, entertain us, drive us and more, an insidious disappearance of environment occurs...because we are no longer conscious, or as conscious, of it.

Hidden Secrets Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2005

The disappearance of landscape is an interesting notion. But, possibly more so if one can sit outside the 'disappearance' as an observer. And, I'd suggest that the Universal perspectives revealed by contemporary cosmological research provide us with the opportunity to observe from a multitude of viewpoints.

UNTETHERING
I have previously written about my ideas of untethering notions of landscape from Earth-bound horizons. Maybe we need to do this to save landscape...like a kind of 'cloud storage'...so it can be retrieved in the future? If contemporary scifi and dystopian cinema is anything to go by, the future of Earth's landscape is far from promising. Think of the recent film 'Elysium'. In contemporary writing think of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'.

Yet, there is always hope! In 'Elysium' hope is represented by the distant perspective photograph of the Earth shown to our young hero. In 'The Road' it's represented by the beauty of the prose.

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To read my earlier post about 'Elysium' please click HERE and to read about 'The Road' please click HERE

 Hope Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2013

 

 

 

* I have written about landscape many times since I started my BLOG in August 2006.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

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