PLAYING WITH LANDSCAPE

Playing With Landscape Oil on linen 80 x 90 cm

Playing With Landscape continues with the 'playful' theme of my recent painting and post, both called Other Worlds, Ahoy!  However, in Playing With Landscape there is not referential landscape for the viewer to find a 'safe' and sure orientation. Rather, 'landscape' seems to float in an undefined place and space, which could also be described as 'landscape', although nebulously so.

In Playing With Landscape there is no orientating landscape to call 'Ahoy' to or from. Indeed, as the Universe expands, one day in the far distant future, we may loose sight of the galactic entities we orientate ourselves to?

With Playing With Landscape  I wanted a sense of many things! While I was painting I was thinking about:

• Planets in Space
• Scattered remnants of Earth in Space
• Cellular organisms or other particles seen under a microscope
• Manmade nanobots roaming...somewhere?
• Thoughts
• Souls
• Life
• Released notions of what 'landscape' is in an age where cosmological research is revealing more and more about the close and far distances of the Universe.
• Untethered landscape

Using the word 'landscape' very loosely I perceive it everywhere! I sense it's demand to be untethered from Earth-bound horizons.

Regular readers will identify my fascination with perspective in the various possibilities this painting suggests. Some are vast and others intimate, some are exterior and others whisper of an interiority that is intimate, yet vast in possibility. Some are material and some are...not.

Regular readers will also see my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. It appears to erupt from each planet, remnant, soul. It's suggests a connectivity...a system...life.

I invite you to play with landscape too.

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My last post My Studio/s proved to be quite popular with its photos of me in my studio etc. People have requested more photos of me doing my 'thing'.

 

So, here we go.

 

Me putting the finishing touches to Playing With Landscape oil on linen 80 x 90 cm.

I can see more clearly in the bright sunshine.

 

 

Me working on Playing With Landscape. I don't normally have a grin on my face as I work, but my daughter, who took the photos, said I had to smile! She has taken more, including a video which I'll put up soon.

 

 

In the meantime here is a photo of me [below] preparing a stretched linen for my next painting. My daughter has taken a video of me doing the prep...and quickened it, so that my movements are like Charlie Chaplin...so it looks really funny! She also managed to cut my head off for most of it. Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

My 2013 solo exhibition was

COSMIC ADDRESS

15- 27 October

Brisbane

 

Check out COSMIC ADDRESS preview notification HERE

 

And to see a painting and post called COSMIC ADDRESS please click HERE

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

AD INFINITUM?

                                                 Ad Infinitum Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

So, will life continue ad infnitum?

Ad infinitum is a Latin phrase meaning without end, without limit, never ending, to infinity.

We know that human life started but a blip ago, when compared with the history of the universe. Yet, all of existence could come under the title of life....couldn't it? I suspect that the majority of human beings believe that human existence... now that it is here manifested in us thinking, breathing, bipeds...will continue ad infinitum. It's a tad scary to think otherwise! But, it depends in what form the ad finitum existence takes.

To ensure the survival and continuance of the human race, are we propelling ourselves towards an 'existence' which muddies the word life? As we deal with seemingly ever increasing ecological and environmental issues, science seems to be proposing a kind of post-human existence which mixes us with machines. Drum roll.....cyborgs! 

So, if we annihilate food producing land, contaminate oceans and air, destroy waterways...we can still exist! We can exist as cyborgs, who presumably are 'fed' by some kind of self replicating nanobot, injected at 'birth', to supply sustenance. These nanobots could be programmed to take our taste sensations from 'Mother's Milk' to grown up foods. The 'sensation' could be enhanced by watching re-runs of quaint old fashioned television shows like 'Master Chef'. These re-runs would be experienced via entertainment device implants.

Is this kind of continuation of life wishful or nightmarish thinking? Is it abdicating responsibility to sustaining and nurturing life as we know it now? Are environmental, economic and sustainability issues becoming so overwhelming that a cyborgian existence seems like a good alternative? Is it too hard to imagine another kind of 'mutation', where thinking, imagination, and creativity cause transformation and transcendence as a physcial and spiritual whole human being, with only minor accoutrements? Indeed, as a cyborg a 'person' could live forever...ad finitum! The individual lives forever! But, what about the human race? 

The merging of human and machine is called singularity. Last year I attended a presentation, by academic and clinical psychologist Dr. Glen Slater, where he explained that for some people singularity is an ultimate goal. He also described how reliance on technology, whilst beneficial in many areas, is also 'prepping' us for this merging of machine and human. Yes, artificial limbs, implants, pace makers, IUDs, etc are all helpful, even life saving devices. But, when there are suggestions that we can download our memories, possibly mixed with another's, into a new 'self' created from stem cells grown from our skin, 'life' gets interesting and peculiar! But, is it an inevitable phase of evolution? To understand the gravity of this question please listen to this TED talk ' 'Will Our Kids Be A Different Species' by Juan Enriquez, a leading world authority on the economic and political impacts of the life sciences. It's a great presentation.

A post human state where 'we' might be cyborgs and/or a 'different species' involves a complex mixture of various types of technologies. But, is it inevitible? Worringly, Enriquez pointed out that since 2000 there has been a 78% increase in autism. I am not sure if this includes across the spectrum from aspergers to severe autism or just the latter. Whatever it is, it is significant. From my experience many people who fall in the autism spectrum have a great affinity with technology. Indeed, they prefer to relate to their gadgets, whether it's a camera [sorry cameras-they like to collect!], computers and other devices. But, have you noticed we are all [well an increasingly proportion of people] relating to devices in a way which is akin to emotional attachment. But, as we relate to the inanimate, what happens to our reltaionships with the animate...and indeed including our self?

Regular readers will know, from my last post, that I attended the University of Queensland's Dean of Medicine's Lecture given by Prof. Michael Merzenich, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, University of California at San Francisco: Chief Scientific Officer, Posit Science. I first came across Prof. Merzenich in the fabulous book by Dr. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself. With this lecture in mind, I think it's interesting that in his TED presentation Enriquez talks about 'rapid brain evolution' in regards to the trajectory things like the statistics on autism are perhaps suggesting.

I could go on. It is a fascinating issue to think about.

PAINTING AD INFINITUM

In my new painting 'Ad Infinitum?' [above] I have used my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life, to suggest ongoing life forces across time. The circles seems to pulse and vibrate. The slightly changed hues in the colours, suggest tansformations and adaptions. Yet, the tree's 'vascular' qualities hold onto life systems. If existence is an ongoing rhythm of expansion and implosion, where does it place human life? Maybe we are destined to be half machine, half human...but then maybe not? Or, maybe 'life' will continue without us at some point in the future? The phrase ad infinitum does not seem to allude to a beginning...maybe life is a series of ad infinitum beginnings? Maybe some kind of a priori concept holds the clue?

                                         Perpetual Beginning Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm
                                                               Previous post HERE 
NEWS

• My painting $oils Ain't $oils - Anymore is a finalist in the Scope Galleries Art and Environment Award, judged by Guy Abrahams of Climarte
• My Blog post Super Heroes was mentioned in Scientific American Science-Art Scumble

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

TO GROK LANDSCAPE

Thank Goodness [It's Raining] Oil on linen 92 x 207 cm

To grok is to intimately and completely share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok

Regular readers will know of my concerns for the planet, particularly with regards to water and soil. Since I started this BLOG in 2006 I have often written about my concerns, plus the paintings which I call my 'quiet activism'. My more obvious visual statements are made using small $ signs and words to create ambigious 'landscapes', which pose questions about how we 'value' our land, and its life giving and sustaining qualities. In Australia and elsewhere we are witnessing a rush to extract huge amounts of minerals and coal seam gas. Like many others, I am not anti-mining per se, but I am anti rushing into extraction activities without a scientific analysis of the risks to water, food production etc. There are enough scientists, and others with experience, calling for caution to indicate that there are risks...and major ones.

Earth For Sale Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

This painting is created with small $ signs.

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-for-sale-120-x-160-cm-oil-on.html

But, this post is not about mining or coal seam gas or farming. Rather, the paragraph above is a short backdrop for new readers.

TO GROK?

To grok is to intimately and completely share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok

As I ponder the environmental dilemmas confronting the world today, I can't help but think about the manner by which we are connected to land. Yes, we use it, move around upon it, photograph and paint it, some watch it from satelites, we dig into it, we manipulate it for all sorts of reasons. However, I sense we largely see ourselves as separate from it. We are observers, witnesses, users, particpants upon. Yet, what if we saw ourselves as part of the landscape, enmeshed with its ebbs and flows, absorbed into the one pulse of life? What if we were to grok with the land, the Earth?

I suspect that early humans did not differentiate themselves from the land, their environment. From the distance of thousands of years into a future characterised by dilemmas of survival, our forebears' attitudes seem highly evolved.

 Heaven and Earth Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm

How can we return to a early humankind relationship with land, in a way which is reconcilable with their future...the one we now inhabit?

SYMBOLISM

I'd like to suggest that the answer lies with potency of symbolism. And regular readers will know what I am going to write next. Yes! The age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol holds clues, I'm sure, to how we might re-imagine our future relationship with Earth and land...and given modern understanding of outerspace...with the cosmos as well.

I am sure there are other age-old symbols which have the kind of potency that can propel re-imagining forward, as it speaks to the past. However, for me, the tree-of-life holds so much endless potential to re-awaken human race memories of connection and rapport with our environment, its physicality and its spirit. The vascular quality of the tree, speaks of systems...and systems keep us and the planet alive. I'd suggest that systems also ensure the propulsion of the Universe...and possibly the Multiverse! We may not understand, or have even identified, some of these systems, but we know they must exist. As I have writen before I have faith in complexity!

 Radiance Oil on linen 92 x 208 cm

Mountains and Metaphors Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm

PAINTINGS
The paintings I have uploaded for this post are a selection of 'landscape' paintings since 2006. All, but the one immediately above and Earth For Sale , depict the tree-of-life totally absorbed...grokked...into the 'scape'. It is THE energy at the same time as being THE 'scape'...one influences the other to manifest. The tree, as a symbol of life, is simultaneously a symbol of us and our environment, here on Earth and within the Multiverse.

In Mountains and Metaphors [immediately above] the moutains are symbolic of overcoming adversity. In Earth For Sale small $ signs create an ambigius landscape. The $ signs are only discernible when viewed up close. I am asking 'Have we noticed?' Have we noticed how we 'value' our land?

Into My Galaxy Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

Majesty and Order Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

The Beginning Of Everything Oil on linen 90 x 180cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/beginning-of-everything.html

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FOR EVERYONE: WORDS AND PANTINGS

BOOK UPDATE

Please check out Kris Wampler's great online interview about

FOR EVERYONE

http://kriswampler.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/interview-kathryn-brimblecombe-fox/

Plus

http://www.spbroundup.com/nonfiction/religion

and

http://bloggers.com/KathrynBrimblecombe

and

for book launch details, where to buy etc etc

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/p/my-book-for-everyone-words-and.html

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Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

'LONG DISTANCE IN HER EYES'

Prayer Gouache on paper 21 x 14.8 cm



Archetype Gouache on paper 21 x 14.8 cm
I am reading a wonderful book at the moment. It is 'The Brain That Changes Itself' by Norman Doidge MD. I highly recommend this book for many reasons. It gives you faith in your own capacities to not only cope with age, impediments, accidents, illness etc, but to change your faculties to enjoy life to its fullest even in the face of aging, accidents, blockages, illness etc. This book re-inforces my belief, which I have written about on this BLOG before, that complexity holds the potency for solutions. I have voiced my thoughts about this with regards to the environment, but it is also applicable to our own bodies. The book investigates everything from learning difficulties, strokes to OCD and other issues which negatively affect our enjoyment of life.

It seems to me that whilst we may not understand the complex systems of our environment or our bodies, we must have faith that the complexity is the element which will provide the answers. Yet, we shortsightedly simplify the potency of complexity by something which is akin to a lack of faith. New research [and some of it not so new, but now embraced!] is revealing the potency of our complex systems to renew, recoup and re-invent themselves. Of course we need to look after ourselves and our environment but we also need to be open and compliant to forces which we may not understand or even be aware of...now isn't that having faith?

As I often do, I refer to the act of painting, which is itself an act of faith. Faith not only in my ability to choose practical and obvious things such as the right colour, brush etc, but also faith that points of disaster and accident or plain 'things just don't seem to be going that well' are part of the process of creation. It is a dance where I am being lead by forces which are seemingly unknown but felt through powers of intuition. In a way it is a return to the faith I had as a child. I am sure many of you know what I mean.

The two paintings above are again my much loved tree-of-life. The top one 'Prayer' is a reminder of the beauty of faith. The second painting called 'Archetype' explores ideas of compexity being achetypical. The tree reflects system-like action which includes shedding as well as renewal. The tree is a perfect metaphor for this because trees shed leaves and branches, some are deciduous, others are pruned, some are burnt, yet processes of renewal through new leaves and shoots or new life borne by wind-blown seeds, remind us of the constancy of life in complexity.

I am going now to share two poems with you. One was written by my grandmother D.E Ross and the other by my mother Elsie Brimblecombe. Both poems are about ageing and both poems reveal that ageing is also a renewal and a source of new insights. My grandmother and mother published a book of poems 'Out There' in 1986 when my grandmother was 87 years old. She died at 92 having been a poet, author, artist, accountant!!! [and a partner in an accountancy firm in W.A], girl guide commissioner, mother of one, grandmother of three, plus a whole lot of other wonderful things. She had her first poem published in a Western Australian newspaper when she was 14. My mother is equally as amazing and is a poet, writer, teacher, artist, great cook, has completed 3 university degrees from the University of Queensland, mother of 3 and grandmother of 8... and of course there is the etc etc etc!

GRATUITOUS YEARS by D.E ROSS copyright

These are the years
that softly fall
on the heart and face.
Cosmetic in effect
they remove all trace
of grievance
with it petulant engraving:
and in its place
evoke gracious gleams of patina
with remembering highlights
of days thought past recall.

Brooding lines
skip merrily
to the music of laughter,
a smile illuminates wherever it can reach.

In this bright climate
courage takes the highway,
and scorns the crypted niche.

OLD AGE by Elise Brimblecombe copyright
The moon played it part
in the bleaching of your hair
Your lines are etched
upon the disc of the sun
The world moves too quickly
for you slowing steps
And the giddiness of youth
has returned to your head

You clutch the bannisters
as you mount the stairs
And dwell too long
upon the rests
You creep from room to room
in tired chase
On the well-knonw track
once travelled at an easy pace

Yet in the mystery of your age
lie secrets
Hidden in the stars
Faint revolutions
Link this planet and the spheres
And in the texture of your life
Is woven more than the pattern of your
years.

My grandmother wrote a poem about me when I was a small child. I was prone to deep thinking and I remember trying to work out life and the universe. I really enjoyed thinking...then school interrupted me for 12 years...and the residual!!!

BY D.E ROSS copyright
A tiny grandchild
barely four years old
sits chin in chubby hand
long distance in her eyes.

Whatever is the matter, Katarina?
I have sad thinkings,
she wistfully replies.


Looks like 'distance' has been a part of me for a long time! Regular readers would know of my intense interest in perspective and distance.
Cheers,
Kathryn