BEYOND MORTALITY

Beyond Mortality Mixed Media on Paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

 

 

I know the title Beyond Mortality sounds serious and huge...and it is both of these! And, where did the idea come from you might ask?

 

It has come directly from thinking about my own reactions to my university research. I am delving into some pretty hefty topics, that certainly do make me wonder. One of these topics is existential risk posed by emerging technologies...the kind of risk that could cause humanity's annihilation. An associated topic is artificial intelligence and potential threats posed by self-learning entities, seen and unseen. All of this spills over into topics such as transhumanism, singularity and posthuman futures. There's an Australian transhumanism site that you might like to look at HERE. As with most things, there's both positive and negative possibilities associated with many of these topics.

 

BEYOND MORTALITY

You can see where the Beyond Mortality title has come from! Yes, thinking about the future, the role of technological 'enhancements' of the human and what 'existence' might mean. The obvious thought that comes to mind is that 'beyond mortality' means immortality. I suspect it might be, strangely, much more complicated than that...

 

In Beyond Mortality I have taken the Christian idea of ascension, coupled it with binary code, and cosmological time and space.  But, the idea of ascension is not only a Christian one. It is shared by a many religions and spiritual beliefs, including Judaism and Islam. My painting also plays with ideas of resurrection, which is what the binary code is 'instructing'. By combining ascension and resurrection with technology's 'promise' of transhuman and/or posthuman futures I'm playing with questions about existence, re-existence [even de-extinction] and mortality. Needless to say there's no resolution or even a stationary viewpoint, but rather, a intellectual and imaginational 

discursiveness that has stimulated my visual 'play'.

 

And, for regular readers...yes...Beyond Mortality is also one of my untethered landscapes. Even the mountain is unleashed from wherever it came from, Galgotha, Calvary or even 'Metaphor'! Yet, the ribbon of colourful binary code creates a landscape-like contour in space, maybe suggestive of new types of scapes where downloaded consciousness-es might 'exist'? The ribbon also seems like it's giving directions, making a pathway...

I wonder if once we are on the path...are there places to get off, make detours, see other directions?

 

On that kind of sobering note....
Cheers!
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com  

IRRESISTIBLE

 Irresistible Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2007

SEDUCTIVE
I've decided to upload a couple of older works on paper for you. I was browsing through my images and these two struck a chord. Both are quite seductive really. Seductive in a way that promises  joy, humour, peace and fun with seemingly wild possibilities.

Irresistible makes me smile. It could be the eye of an alien, the sun experiencing massive solar flares, or it could be a map of some kind, as if someone is above a landscape. I quite like the alien eye option! But, then again....I do like the landscape one too. And, gee whiz...the sun flare is also exciting. But, hey, it could be a microbe seeking a host, a flock of sheep, an overflowing dam, a drop of rain....

My Heart Sings 56 x 115 cm 2005

 

 

HEART SCAPE

My Heart Sings is ten years old and it still makes my heart sing. When I painted it I remember thinking that the markings captured the movement of a heart...a happy heart too! A kind of melody creating a scape across time. Yes, this painting is a landscape, a heart landscape, but also another aerial landscape where the markings could be traces of flotsam and jetsam, or perhaps leaves dancing in the wind, or ripples across water. But, let's untether landscape from Earth. This painting could be the surface of another planet, vaguely similar to Earth, but different. I can see shapes that might indicate landforms created by wind or the movement of water. But, then...maybe this is a scape of a section of a galaxy, a small piece of the Universe tracked by the movement traces of stars, moons and planets.

 

UNIVERSITY

I hope you have enjoyed these two paintings. While I am doing my M. Phil at the University of Queensland I will be uploading some new pieces, sketches from my desk, but also revisiting some older works. I am interested in how my research might provide new perspectives of older works, but also strike inspiration for new ones too.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SOUP

 

From The Primordial Soup Pencil on paper 2015

 

 

FROM MY DESK

This is another sketch from my desk. Yes, my desk at university, where I spend a lot of time these days. Regular readers will know I have returned to university to undertake an M. Phil [research higher degree]. So, while I am reading, writing, taking notes I try to capture some of  the images that float through my head. My sketchbook and pencils are sitting beside my notepads and library books, ready to picked up when inspiration arrives. Sometimes, it's a bit hard to capture inspiration, but the image above, I think, has been caught rather well. 

 

So, how did this image happen? What was I reading when it suddenly popped into my head? Well...I had been given a task to write 1000 words about an artwork and the chosen piece was 'The Crochet Coral Reef' curated by Margaret and Christine Wertheim. So, it's not actually a piece, but an ongoing project that includes collaborative community activities and exhibitions around the world, involving over eight thousand people [as of 2015]. Please read about it here on the Wertheim sister's website for their not-for profit Institute For Figuring [IFF] based in Los Angeles.

 

CROCHET

Yes, the 'Crochet Coral Reef' is created with the traditional women's handicraft of crochet. And, it's far more complex that you might think! The coral-like pieces created by crochet artists are also 3d representations of non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry. 3d modelling of hyperbolic geometry had remained elusive, despite it appearing in nature ie: lettuce leaves, coral. It remained elusive until 1997 when Dr. Daina Taimina, a mathematician at Cornell University, showed how it could be modelled in 3d by creating coral-like forms using crochet, a handicraft she had learnt as a child.

 

In 2005 Margaret Wertheim, a physicist and science writer and her sister Dr. Christine Wertheim, an artist, writer and academic decided to crochet coral using Dr. Taimina's techniques. Both sisters had learnt crochet, along with other handicrafts, as children growing up in Brisbane, Australia. Christine suggested they create a coral reef. [IFF] As Australians [Queenslanders!] they had a connection to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the ten wonders of the world, and under increasing threat.

 

Please have a look at the many and various images of 'Crochet Coral Reef' marvellous exhibitions on the IFF website . There's an array of different types of exhibitions, from those where the crocheted coral is amassed to create colourful reefs, to those where amazing individual pieces are placed on plinths, taking on a prophetic gravitas.

 

ENVIRONMENT

As time has gone by, the choice of crochet material has extended beyond traditional woollen yarn to include plastic wrappers, wire, video tape and more.[IFF] This is a deliberate confrontation with the detritus of the Anthropocene, especially in the marine context. Yes, the 'Crochet Coral Reef' project is not only an expression of creative handicraft and a modelling of hyperbolic geometry, it is also deliberately placed within important environmental discourses.

 

The' Crochet Coral Reef' project seriously provokes commentary about environmental  degradation, ocean sustainability and global warning. But, hey...let's take it to the full whammy...I argue that the project warns of existential risks, those threats that may cause annihilation of humanity and the planet. However, the project's human elements ie: community collaboration and the hands-on crochet technique, unmediated by hi-tech equipment and intervention, remind us that touch and time can be reclaimed. As it confronts us, the 'Crochet Coral Reef' project also offers multiple pathways for re-thinking...the hyperbolic taking us on a roller-coaster that provides multiple perspectives.

 

So, how did my sketch From The Primordial Soup erupt from this story of crochet, hyperbolic  geometry and environmental discourses?

 

Here goes...

 

PLASTIGLOMERATE

I had previously read about a new geological term...plastiglomerate! Yes, it is actually a geological term to describe a new rock, a mixture of natural materials combined with plastic, being delivered from the sea. You can read about plastiglomerate on the Geological Society of America GSA Today website.

 

With this new 'rock' in mind, it's easy to see confluence with the multi-material morphed coral forms in 'Crochet Coral Reef' exhibitions eg: check out the 2014 exhibition at NYU in Abu Dhabi and the 2015 one in San Antonio, Texas.

 

As I thought more about plastiglomerate and pondered the far reaching critical possibilities of 'The Crochet Coral Reef' project I asked questions. Is plastiglomerate a metaphor for a new kind of birth, a mutation where detritus and DNA are mixed? Are we witnessing a prophetic delivery where mutations are, in fact, inevitable? Have they already occurred in other areas so far undetected? As landscape coughs up these new entities, what is humanity's fate?

 

Given that life may have begun in the primordial ocean I think it is interesting that plastiglomerate has been created in, and delivered by, our 21st century oceans. This is what inspired From The Primordial Soup.

 

 

Sap Of Life Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm 2012

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

DAMNED

Damned Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm 2011

 

 

ENVIRONMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Recently, in the news, there was a report about an abandoned silver mine near Texas in S.W Queensland on the border of New South Wales, Australia. Contaminated ponds pose risks to the local Dumaresqu River, which flows into the McIntyre River, which then flows southwards into the Murray Darling. Apparently, it only needs a minimal amount of rain to fall to cause havoc with overflow into the river systems.

 

This kind of situation is totally unacceptable, especially in the 21st century where no-one, mining companies and governments, can claim ignorance of environmental sustainability issues.

 

DAMNED

The work on paper above Damned [and detail below] was painted a few years ago, but it still 'speaks'...even 'screams' to us today. The word 'damned' is repeated to appear like water in a holding facility, such as a dam or a pond. It could also be the bed of a river or creek. Obviously I am playing with the word dam!

 

To be damned is a serious thing - conjuring an array of different possibilities from the wrath of God to condemnation, anger, frustration and denouncement. And...if we pollute and contaminate our waterways we are damned in a way that potentially threatens our very existence!

 

 

Detail Damned Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm 2011

 

 

VALUE

The thought that human existence, along with plants and non-human animals, can be threatened by contaminated water may seem extreme, but we are all interconnected in such a way that even a small risk must be taken seriously.

 

The news report mentioned above is just one story, but there are many potential stories like it. Questions about 'value', normally referring to money, dominate debates. Who pays reparation, especially when a mine, or similar, goes into liquidation and there is no money left to maintain or fix? This is compounded when governments have requested inadequate financial assurances at planning or approval stages. While people wait for an answer it could rain and tip the water level in contaminated ponds into wider catchments with potentially devastating results. What is value and what is valued?

 

RISK

In my painting Risk [below and Detail underneath] I have painted strips of rain, water in a dam or creek/river bed, and underground aquifers in small blue $ signs. The word 'Risk' is also painted in small $ signs, but the colour red signals a warning, perhaps multiple warnings, about how we value money, water, life and existence.

 

Risk is not a condemnation of money as a symbol of exchange. Rather, it is a provocation to think about the many aspects of value.

 

CURRENCY

And, there's a play with notions of currency! The currency of water as it ebbs and flows, a system of money in use in a country, being current - contemporary, implied momentum within a system such as political currency.

 

Maybe if we take risk seriously - currency in all its permutations will be re-negotiated, re-imagined even?

 

 

 

Risk Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2010 [Sold]

 

 

 

 Detail Risk Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2010 [Sold]

 

 

LANDSCAPE

The two paintings above Damned and Risk are landscapes - loaded ones! Regular readers know of my love of landscape and my attempts to re-think what landscape is in the 21st century. I have my cosmic landscape which try to untether notions of landscape from Earth-bound horizons. I also have my Earth-based ones, such as the two above. Yet, the link is imaging the future...

 

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE/S

Alternate Universe Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm paper size 3005

 

 

ALTERNATE - UNIVERSE 

Alternate and Universe when coupled together bring to mind a couple of possibilities. There's the colloquial judgement made about someone who appears to not notice how their behaviour affects others...as if they are living on another planet or in another universe! Then there's the theory of a multi-verse, where there's more than one universe, existing simultaneously or maybe consecutively...or in some other dimensionality yet to be discovered.

 

Alternate Universe [above] is ten years old...I painted it in 2005. Yes, my interest in the cosmos is not new. I was probably a bit more grounded ten years ago though! By this I mean, I had not clearly thought about untethering concepts of landscape from Earth-bound horizons, one of my current quests, both intellectual and creative.

 

TEN YEARS AGO

The painting below Other Universes is a little more recent, but it has a similar far away, yet also a strangely close, feel. As in Alternate Universe the markings seem whimsically intimate on the one hand, yet suggestive of endless vastness at the same time.

 

 

 

Other Universes Gouache and watercolour on paper 15 x 21 cm paper size 2011

 

 

WATCHING

The two paintings below 'speak' about watching or observing. The first one suggests an observance of the Universe by others and the second painting suggests that the universe is undertaking the watching or observing. Yet, when you think about it, the universe is everything, so that any observation is witness to...well... everything, intimately and openly, inside and out, Earthlings and aliens...and more!

 

The two paintings below are more recent ie: 2013 and 2015 and reflect my ongoing interest in searching the universe for scapes of all kinds. The most obvious is landscape. I am interested in how we might re-think concepts of landscape in the cosmological21st century where exoplanets entice with possibilities for future human habitation, after we plunder the resources of our current planetary home. It is worth thinking about landscape, in the broadest sense, to explore humankind's relationship with something that keeps us 'grounded' [literally and metaphorically], emotionally, spiritually and physically. It may help us sustain Earth, at the same time as acting as a cautionary sensor for future explorations beyond Earth's horizon. And...that's where my quest to un-tether notions of landscape form earth-bound horizons comes from. By extending our landscape perspective into space it provides us with multiple vantage points to observe ourselves, our Earthly home, our Universal environment, time and space.

 

 

 

Watching The Universe Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2013

 

 

The Universe Watches Everything Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm paper size 2015

 

UN-FRAMING LANDSCAPE

Un-framing Landscape Crayon on paper [preliminary sketch]

 

 

As I mentioned in a previous recent post, I have returned to University study. I have embarked on an M. Phil [Research] at the University of Queensland. Happily, I can report that I am thoroughly enjoying being immersed in thinking and reading. I am also thrilled to be able to attend many of the fascinating talks and seminars that seem to happen every day at UQ. Yes, I am a bit of a geek...nerd...

 

Yesterday I attended an artists' talk, hosted by the University of Queensland Art Museum [UQAM], held in conjunction with a current exhibition Light Play: Ideas, Optics and Atmosphere , curated by Samantha Littley. The artists' talk included the curator as facilitator and artists Sam Cranstoun [multi-media artist] and photographers Carl Warner and Marian Drew. Dr. Margaret Wegener a lecturer in Physics at UQ was also part of the panel.

 

Many really interesting topics, relating to light and in reference to the artists' works, were discussed. However, my ears pricked up when there was a short discussion on how photographers and painters might frame a landscape. By frame, I mean compose or choose the image parameters with and wthin known elements. I cannot remember the details of the entire discussion, because my imagination went off into thoughts about how I un-frame landscape in my own work and how doing this unleashes it from earth-bound horizons.

 

When  I got back to my desk, after the artists' talk, I drew this sketch [above] Un-framing the Landscape. My plan is to sketch while I study and research. These sketches will lay the foundations for my next exhibition, which will probably be sometime in 2017.

 

As regular readers know, I think a lot about what landscape is, and means to us, in an age where cosmology traverses the close and far distances of the Universe, where astronomy seems to be regularly finding potential new Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars, where exploratory spacecraft take photographs of planets and moons, where virtual worlds proliferate, where humankind's presence leaves debris in space...and so on.

 

 

 

It Beckons Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm 2015

 

 

Birth of Worlds Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm 2014

 

 

Given that I consciously attempt to untether ideas of landscape from Earth-bound horizons - to take landscape into the cosmos - I suggest that my un-framing is about extending parameters beyond the known, beyond safe horizons. In other words, the known can no longer act as a frame. Yet, extension beyond Earth's horizons does not necessarily mean there is a re-frame - after all the Universe is a big space/place where the unknown surpasses the known.

 

In my cosmic landscapes I try to re-negotiate landscape in a way that entices the viewer to think about what is beyond the literal edges of my canvases - to wonder. I also try to stir perception by playing with perspective and orientation - a kind of flipping of familiarity.

 

 

 

It's Everything Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm 2015

 

 

Here are a couple of other posts where I discuss landscape:

 

From Blank Canvasses To Untethered Landscapes

That Word: Landscape

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

 

 

 

HOME

Home Gouache and watercolour on paper 38 x 42.5 cm

 

 

DIFFERENT HOMES

We can examine the word 'home' from a few perspectives....and regular readers know how much I like thinking about and with perspective!
 

Home can be the abode we live in. It can also be where we were born, which maybe in another city, town or country. Home can be where we feel most comfortable, and that does not have to be the physical place where we eat, sleep and so on. It can be where our parent/s live. We can feel 'at home' within ourselves, even if we are not in a physical place that we would normally call a home.

 

 

AND

 

 

EARTH

Home can also be planet Earth. After all, it has been 'home' to every human, past and present...but maybe not for future humans, except in nostalgic reminiscences! The concept of leaving or returning home, when it's Earth that's being left or returned to, certainly stretches perspective as well as the enormity of possible 'home-sickness'.
 

Where might future humans call 'home'? Well...the Mars One project certainly extends the idea of a future human home beyond Earth. It's still within our solar system, but poses many potentially catastrophic issues for those who might try to inhabit the planet. So, alternatives might be found in the increasing number of recently discovered Earth-like planets, orbiting in the Goldilocks zones of distant stars. These are called exoplanets ie: they are outside our solar system. For some people they offer great promise for possible alternative planetary homes for humans, and presumably selected animals, and possibly plants too. But, the latter would depend on the abundance of flora a new planetary home might offer, because...it has been posited, some of these far-away planets might be even more abundant than Earth!
 

EXODUS

As philosopher Paul Virilio comments in his 2012 book 'The Great Accelerator' [p.17] these exoplanets entice with a kind of 'promised land' story. But, his sentiment is coupled with a critical condemnation or warning of the destructive forces that might cause, and witness, a mass exodus of humanity from Earth. Indeed, Earthly human history has many examples of mass exodus of people, caused be a need or an urgency to leave, that have resulted in major issues for everyone involved.
 

And, that brings me to current events where masses of people are fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East, mainly Iraq and Syria. People are also fleeing unsafe environments in Africa and Asia. The moving mass of people around the globe, particularly into Europe, has accelerated in recent months due to heightened/sustained threats, as well as the northern hemisphere Summer, which makes it more conducive for travelling/fleeing on foot, by boat and camping out etc. Needless to say, despite Summer weather, the dangers of seeking refuge are still present, as clearly evidenced by dreadful happenings, such as deaths at sea and more. These people are fleeing from HOME...of country, house, family, heritage, culture. Their suffering on so many levels is beyond belief. I wonder if they can keep their internal 'homes' intact? I wonder...
 

Home Gouache and Watercolour on paper 2015
 

My new painting is another of my cosmic landscapes. Can you pick where 'home' might be? Yes, the beacon of the tree-of-life heralds to you! It could be Earth, or it could a future exoplanetary home? Or, it could be symbolic of 'home' as an amalgam of country, house, family, heritage and culture. It could be symbolic of that place within that provides spiritual and mental refuge, even if the physical world of 'home' is taken away.
 

Placed within a cosmic-like perspective, the small tree-beacon, might suggest that the Universe is our home. Yet, taking the universe, both as a literal place but also something 'other'...maybe in a yet-to-be-discovered other dimension...this painting may suggest the possibility of a 'home' we cannot yet imagine?

 

 

Selected posts about the idea of HOME

Greener Pastures  Here I 'play' with the stories of Goldilocks and The Three Bears, plus Billy Goats Gruff with reference to seeking new 'homes' on other planets.

New World Habitability. Vacation Anyone?  Here I discuss the possibility of exoplanet super abundance .

Questions - Three Paintings In this post I write about three works on paper that pose questions about humanity leaving Earth

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ALIENS - ALIENATED

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

 

 

TATTERSALL'S LANDSCAPE AWARD

Life Calling. Anyone There? is currently in the 2015 Tattersall's Landscape Art Award, here in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. This is an award devoted to landscape and attracts a $30,000 prize. You can see all the finalists on the slideshow on this link HERE 

 

Unlike a lot of art awards, this is an invitation competition. I am thrilled to have again been invited to participate.

 

The opening was a few nights ago...and what a fabulous opening it was too. The best thing was that so many of the artists were there. The winner of the award is well known Brisbane-born artist Noel McKenna . His winning entry Farm Scene is number 47 on the slide show mentioned above. And, congratulations to Noel.

 

The judges for the 2015 award were Tattersall's Club Committee Member, and former Club Chief Executive Officer, Michael Paramor, Curatorial Manager of Australian Art QAGoma, Jason Smith, Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Nick Mitzevick and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Education and Art at the Australian Catholic University, Lindsay Farrell. You can read more about the history of the prize HERE

 

The exhibition of entries will be on public view from September 7 - 18 at Waterfront Place, Brisbane. If you are in Brisbane, please pop in to see the paintings.

 

 

Life Calling. Anyone There? 

I entered Life Calling. Anyone There? because at about the time of choosing which painting to enter there was news about a Russian Billionaire, Yuri Milner, donating one hundred million dollars to listen for aliens. You can read about it here on Wired. I was interested that two observatories would be part of this very interesting project...and one of them is Australia's Parkes Telescope . The listening project is called Breakthrough Listen and the aim is to focus on listening for, rather than trying to communicate with, aliens [extra-terrestrial intelligence]. The data that is collected will be open source, so anyone can access it.

 

There's a whole other 'conversation' about the pros and cons of listening for and/or trying to communicate with aliens! That's another post.

 

So...I thought Life Calling. Anyone There? would be a very apt painting to enter the Tattersall's Landscape Art Award because when I painted it, I was thinking about the fascination we humans have with questions about aliens. As I wrote in my previous post about the painting the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence is a serious scientific pursuit. The SETI Institute in California must be a fascinating place to work! Of course the search for life does not necessarily begin and end with the search for intelligent life. There are many scientists undertaking research in signs of any kind of life, from microbes to more. There's even an area of research called astrobiology. Check out NASA's astrobiology site!

 

TWO LANDSCAPES

Life Calling. Anyone There? depicts two landscapes - one in the foreground and the planet. Yes, regular readers will identify that this painting is one of my attempts to untether notions of landscape from Earth-bound horizons. The idea that a whole planet is a landscape maybe unusual, but in many of my paintings I propose that the whole universe is a landscape. After all...it is Earth's environment! This is becoming clearer as images from outer space, back towards Earth, place it within a universal perspective. The most famous photograph Pale Blue Dot, taken as Voyager 1 left the solar system in 1990, had a profound influence on how people viewed planet Earth. And, yes I am now going to direct you to the post I wrote for my own painting called Pale Blue Dot!

 

In Life Calling. Anyone There? two trees-of-life seem to call to each other, via the 'transmitter' of leaves. The viewer is unsure which way the 'conversation' is going. Who made contact first? Initially the viewer might assume that the landscape in the foreground is Earth...but it does not necessarily have to be! And, the planet...that's not necessarily Earth either. This ambiguity raises the possibility that beings on two other planets maybe communicating with each other!

 

BUT

 

There's also a metaphoric, rather than a speculative, reading of Life Calling. Anyone There? There are so many alienated souls on Earth calling for help and assistance, recognition, acknowledgement and more. Who is listening to them? Currently catastrophic geo-political events are causing unimaginable suffering to people fleeing from their homes, seeking refuge in other countries. Currently, the rates of suicide seem to be increasing. Currently, domestic violence causes weekly deaths of women and sometimes children...here in Australia. The abyss-like divides that occur with opportunity, wealth, safety, compassion and care, are like the mammoth distances between two planets.

 

Seems to me that any alien who observed us Earthlings might not think we're enlightened or intelligent enough to bother communicating with!

 

So on that rather sombre note!

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimbelcombe-fox.com

9 YEARS BLOGGING - ANNIVERSARY POST

It's Everything Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

It's nearly the end of August and I suddenly realised that I was almost about to miss my Blog's 9th anniversary. I started this Blog in August 2006, never imagining that it would become such an intrinsic aspect of my work as an artist. Some un-imagined outcomes are:

• The act of regularly writing has helped shape and sharpen my ideas.
• The act of writing stirs new ideas too.
• By posting once a week I have a kind of visual diary of my thoughts, paintings and influences.
• Undertaking regular research about my influences and inspirations has broadened my ideas, but it has also been immensely intellectually satisfying.
• Late last year I was invited by the State Library of Queensland to have my Blog archived in perpetuity on PANDORA, Australia's national archive of online sites of significance and ongoing research value. This was totally unexpected, but a delightful acknowledgement for me!
• The ability to link posts etc to social media sites helps broaden my audience.
• A dynamic Blog is also a wonderful way to easily promote my work to all kinds of people - buyers, curators, writers, galleries etc.
• The regular writing has, I think anyway, helped improve my writing. This is a good [actually excellent!] thing because I am about to embark on a Research Higher Degree, a Master of Philosophy, at the University of Queensland, Australia. A thesis is a lot of writing!

One thing I never imagined in 2006, when I attended the artists' PR and Marketing seminar that set me on the blogging path, was that I would ever be invited to give a presentation on Blogging. BUT, this happened a couple of weeks ago! And, it went exceptionally well too. That early 2006 seminar was held at Metro Arts, Brisbane.

Here's a link to my Blog's 8th anniversary post. The most popular post in 2014 is still the most popular one in 2015...and...it is Cosmic Ouroboros

Cosmic Ouroboros oil on linen 120 x 150 cm 2012

 

 

 

One thing that is new in the last year is that I am now on
INSTAGRAM

@kathrynbrimblecombefox

 

 

Below is a screen shot of my INSTAGRAM profile/page

Please follow me!

And, here's another screen shot. It's of one of my other online presences - my website 'gallery' for CODE  - my 2015 solo exhibition

NEWS

 

I have again been invited to participate in the

Tattersall's Landscape $30,000 Art Award

 

and

 

I am delivering the painting tomorrow.

Judging and opening is next week.

 

FINGERS CROSSED!

 

Below is a photo of my Tattersall's Art Prize entry all packed up and ready for delivery.

I've entered Life Calling Anyone There?

 

 

 

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ART SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

 On The Edge Gouache on paper 34.5 x 53.5 cm 2001

 

 

HAPPENINGS
Last week I attended a very interesting and stimulating symposium in Melbourne, hosted by Deakin University. The title for the symposium was Unruly Techniques: Linking Knowledge Practices Through Art, Science and Technology.

Also, last weekend, I visited the National Gallery of Victoria's fabulous exhibition Masterpieces From The Hermitage: The Legacy Of Catherine The Great

AND

On Sunday, here in Brisbane, I attended Neil deGrasse Tyson's amazing presentation where he discussed a range of cosmic, intellectual and social topics.

 Neil deGrasse Tyson event in Brisbane August 16 2015. Hosted by THINK INC

So, I had an array of stimulating experiences within a few days. Always a great thing! But, given my interests in art, science and technology, I come away from these experiences with some clearer thoughts and perspectives.

But, some background first.

WERTHEIM SISTERS
Brisbane born [!] twin sisters Margaret Wertheim and Christine Wertheim both made keynote presentations at the Unruly Techniques symposium. Margaret has studied physics and mathematics and is a well known science writer. Christine is a writer, performer and artist who teaches at the California Institute For The Arts in LA. Christine's keynote Pata-Critics: The Art and Science Of Imaginary Solutions was fascinating and will be discussed in another post. Both women live in Los Angeles and are co-founders of the not-for-profit The Institute For Figuring .

CROCHET CORAL REEF PROJECT
Margaret and Christine Wertheim are also the instigators of a most wonderful project ie: The Crochet Coral Reef Project which the website describes as The Crochet Coral Reef is a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world. It is one of the largest community arts/science projects in the world with around 8,000 people contributing.  I first heard of the project a number of years ago and was intrigued by its hyperbolic math inspiration, as well as the use of handicraft to explain/visualise a difficult concept. The project's intersection with hyperbolic maths is explained HERE. Subtexts include environmental issues as well as disruptive perceptions of a traditional feminine handicraft
pursuit.

Seeking Perspective Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm

I've uploaded this painting because many people who saw it at my recent exhibition CODE commented on it being like coral. This description if often given when my tree-of-life cascades across the painting.

CREATIVITY
Margaret Wertheim made some interesting statements and observations that are dear to my heart. I was thrilled that she clearly articulated them and to such an audience. Early in her presentation...remembering this is at a art, science and technology symposium... she quite forcefully stated that science does not need to have creativity added to it...because it is already intrinsically creative!

And, towards the end of her presentation she made a comment about the crochet hook being a piece of technology - a handicraft technology. She made a plea for the arts to not think of legitimate technology, for enabling creative expression, as only being the kind you plug in, a computer etc. She cleverly and humorously described our fingers as creating digitised work!


SO - Some thoughts-observations:


SCIENCE MORE CREATIVE THAN THE ARTS?
After listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson and thinking about all the other science events, books, Youtube videos etc I've read/watched/attended - something occurred to me. I actually think that science generally is currently much more exciting, innovative, flexible and creative than the arts [generally] currently are! I agree with Margaret Wertheim - science does not need to have creativity added, even bestowed, upon it by the arts or artists or anything else.

Indeed, maybe it's the arts that needs self-examination, to become more dynamic, reach beyond the tight boundaries of the market and go searching for its creative playfulness...to restore a kind of inspirational capacity that contemporary science is stirring.

The so-called art/science nexus, I believe is not about one being good for the other or appropriating aspects of the other, but more about each pursuit maintaining a confident integrity. Science, I suspect is more confident than the arts, which in some areas seems to be needy of science's approval. If there's to be cross inspiration I suggest it comes from a confidence that exudes, not only academic and intellectual rigour, but also playfulness....and all that it encompasses.

PLAYFULNESS
DeGrasse Tyson made a comment that struck me as significant. He said that by being a scientist he could stay a child ie: keep the wonder, play with ideas, imagine the seemingly impossible, have fun. I don't detect a lot of fun in the arts, particularly the visual arts, these days! Perhaps the arts, somehow, disallows the inner child, quelling the kind playfulness that pushes boundaries at the same time as inspiring. Maybe artists need to also feel happy to declare, I love being an artist because it means I can hold onto and love my inner child?

[Christine Wertheim's Unruly Techniques symposium presentation on pataphysics - the fictional in science as distinct from science fiction - gave clues for art's...playful...re-invigoration.]

Tree-of-Life Time Travelling Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

 

THE RISE OF THE INTELLIGENT GEEK SCIENCE CELEBRITY!
The Neil deGrasse Tyson Brisbane event attracted 2,500 people. He received a standing ovation from the entire audience. The rise of the intelligent-geek-science-'celebrity' is refreshing and illustrates the public's desire to be informed and inspired. People like deGrasse Tyson will help spread scientific literacy, thus leading to increasing public understanding, and informed critique, of 21st century issues. Politicians, policy makers and educators...take note!

Here's me at the Neil Degrasse Tyson even in Brisbane. I got there early - keen!

 

 

OLD AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Margaret Wertheim's comment about the crochet hook being a technological tool, is exactly how I have thought about the paint brush and paint. They are technologies - yes, old and traditional - but given they have been around, in some form or another, for 40,000 years I suggest there must be something about brush and paint that is important ...something about us being human. New technologies offer amazing possibilities for everyone including scientists and artists, but they belong to a pantheon of tools that include seemingly simple ones too.

A full and diverse tool-kit reflects sophistication...don't you think? Indeed, it's much more fun if you have lots of things to play with!

And, now to...

CATHERINE THE GREAT
The Masterpieces From The Hermitage exhibition. This exhibition illustrates Catherine The Great's dexterous ability to govern, learn and see the potential in cultural activity, expression and acquisition. The art in the exhibition provides many examples of visual language, that an audience of the time could decipher to gain meaning and knowledge, both explicit and implied.

 A didactic that gives some idea of Catherine The Great's expansive thinking - from the NGV's Masterpieces From The Hermitage exhibition

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

CUT OUT

 Australian Landscape Cut Out Oil on linen 50 x 70 cm 2015

Australian Landscape Cut Out was not in my recent exhibition CODE because it was in Sydney, awaiting, along with many other artists' paintings, for pre-selection viewing for the Wynne Prize. This prize is for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or to the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists.  Alas, my painting was not pre-selected and it arrived back in Brisbane after CODE was finished. However, the painting below Privileged Landscape? was in CODE and caused great interest.

COSMIC LANDSCAPES
Regular readers will recognise both paintings as 'cosmic landscapes'. They play with perspective, the kinds of perspective contemporary cosmology and astronomy provide. The universe is now literally touched by humankind, as spacecraft progress even beyond our solar system. This has happened progressively since 1957 when the first spacecraft, Sputnik 1, was launched by Russia.

Spacecraft take photographs of, and collect other data about, entities they pass, encounter or land upon. Information and images are sent back to Earth for scrutiny and examination, providing more knowledge about our universal environment...as well as stirring even more awe and wonder.

PLUTO
This year, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft got close to Pluto on its onward journey beyond. Many photographs and other data were sent back to Earth. As with images from investigations of other celestial entities the ensuing descriptions of the Pluto photographs struck me as important, and not just for the obvious reasons. For me it's about how we conceptualise landscape. Indeed, contemporary space research is 'telling' us that landscape exists beyond Earth's horizons! We use descriptive terms to understand other planets, moons etc based on our experience of our Earthly environment. These descriptions take 'landscape' into space!

Here are a couple of quotes from NASA's New Horizons site that illustrate how humankind's descriptive needs bring landscape into universal dimensions. New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains... and... A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto’s Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain.

UNIVERSAL LANDSCAPE
Concepts of landscape must expand to include and embrace ideas of a Universal Landscape. An expanded view of landscape may assist humankind in navigating how it deals with 21st century issues that pose existential threats, such as extreme climate change, bio-threats, technological risk and more. How? A Universal Landscape provides us with not only perspectives that are outwardly focused. It also provides us with perspectives of Earth situated within a vastness that clearly shows how beautiful, isolated and vulnerable we are. Indeed, despite exciting discoveries of potential Earth-like planets, currently we humans have nowhere else to go. Perspective is 'telling'...even 'imploring'... us to get on with each other and to look after our Earth-HOME.

THE TWO PAINTINGS
In Australian Landscape Cut Out and Privileged Landscape? I have attempted to question attachments to local landscapes that might blind us the variety of perspectives cosmology is offering. Discernible landscape characteristics of Earth ie: continents, oceans etc effectively disappear when viewed from the vast distances of space. Indeed, so do boundaries and borders, and accompanying notions of nationhood and land ownership. If we remain attached to Earth based ideas of landscape, then 'landscape' and orientation disappear with vast distance ...yet an expanded idea of 'landscape' means we can keep oriented within a universal environment.

In both paintings the starry universe is visible where the continent of Australia has been cut out. This was a deliberate attempt to draw the universe closer, to suggest that our orientation with and by landscape needs to expand beyond the local. Regular readers know of my thoughts on the importance of developing skills in seeing multiple perspective, even simultaneously. These paintings play with ideas of multiple perspective...an interplay between the local and universal, the nano and vast.

The famous image Pale Blue Dot, taken from Voyager 1 as it left the solar system in 1990, showed Earth as a small dot amongst a swathe of other small sparkling entities in space. No discernible Earth landscape features were evident because the planet had become a spec upon a much larger landscape...a Universal one. Humbling indeed.

In the 21st century humankind has an opportunity to re-examine landscape.


PREVIOUS POSTS OF INTEREST

Greener Pastures

New World Habitability: Vacation Anyone?

Pale Blue Dot

Team Humanity

Perspective - Yes Again!

That Word - Landscape


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

DETAILS

 Detail of Universal Code Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm 2015

DETAILS

Fellow-artist friend Mandy Ridley, gave me an idea for this post. Mandy is a very accomplished artist and I encourage you take a look at her website to see some of her amazing work. She commented on the fact that photos of my paintings don't reveal the 'exquisite' details. And, it's true...a photo of an entire painting does not allow the viewer to get close to the paint, to be startled by details that fall into a wholeness when seen from a distance. So, at Mandy's behest I took lots of photos of details.

The photo above is a detail from Universal Code. The detail image above reveals the string of binary code, expressing/instructing the word LIFE, which forms an amorphous encircling of a golden orb. The detail image also shows the 'terrain' of the background paint. I use the word terrain because whilst I manipulated the paint, I also let it do its own thing. With lots of turps and other manipulations, the background layers of colour travelled across the linen surface before settling and drying. The result, which I had hoped for, was a truly cosmic 'terrain' for me to work upon.

PRIVILEGED LANDSCAPE

Below are two detail photos of Privileged Landscape? In both photos you can see the Australia cut-out and the texture of the red/orange/yellow background, which was created with a combination of deliberate 'accident', manipulations and over-painting.

Detail Privileged Landscape Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2015

 

Detail Privileged Landscape Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2015

OBJECTS
Below is a detail photo of the painting Objects.

This painting was another one which really 'popped' when viewed through 3D glasses. The coloured balls seem to levitate away from the painting, whilst the pale coloured smaller balls remained on the surface of the image. The viewer really felt like they were travelling through a 'cosmos', whether it was a trip through the planets or one that passed by atoms. Yet, even without 3D glasses this painting does generate a feeling of travelling through or amongst things.

The detail photo shows one of the coloured balls against the background, which again is like a terrain. I allowed the paint to do its own thing, but with a manipulative eye and a dexterous hand.

Detail of Objects Oil on linen Oil on linen 85 x 147 cm 2015

 Detail of Seeking Perspective Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm 2015

Detail of Future Oil on linen 92 x 102 cm 2015

 Detail of Beyond Yesterday Oil on linen 80 x 55 cm 2014

Detail of Code Oil on linen 60 x 110 cm 2015

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com