AUSTRALIA - ONLINE EXHIBITION

 Run Off  Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Please click on the hyperlinked titles for more about each painting. 

2026 UPDATE

In March/April 2025 my curated survey exhibition DRONE: Ghosts and Shadows was held at the University of Southern Queensland, Art Gallery (Toowoomba). A few of the paintings in this AUSTRALIA- ONLINE GALLERY were in the exhibition. 

In the photo above Five Eyes and the Rest, Not Waiting for the Future are in the montage of works on paper on the far back wall. Wingman and Zooming In and Out are on the far right wall.

The painting on the floor Beliefs and Battlefields (2025) is a re-arrangeable painting. I have included here in this online gallery because there is a map of Australia. I also included a map of South East Queensland, tracking a road from from Brisbane to Dalby, via Toowoomba. This close-up places emphasis on the fact that the RAAF and Boeing collaboratively developed MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone will be assembled/manufactured at the Wellcamp  Aerospace and Defence Precinct, just outside Toowoomba. The exhibition was also held in Toowoomba, and grew up around Dalby. The round yellow piece, for me, is a field of wheat, like my father used to grow. You will see some 'ghost bat' paintings below, further into the 'gallery'.

In case you missed it, my commentary piece, 'Light-speed, contemporary war, and Australia's National Defence Strategic Review' in Digital War journal intersects with the Australia theme of this online gallery. The article includes two of my paintings. It is open access, so anyone can read it. 

And, another article in Media, War and Conflict journal is Surrendering to 'Too Powerful' Technologies: From the F-111 to the MQ-28 Ghost Bat Drone is also relevant. And, it is open access too.

2024 UPDATE

I last updated this AUSTRALIA-ONLINE EXHIBITION on 26 January 2022. I started it in 2016, and updated it in 2017. And now it is the 26 January 2024. The date has become increasingly contentious as a celebration. 

I offer this exhibition as a stimulus for reflection. This includes - Australia's history, it's profile in the contemporary world, it's planetary existence ... and you may think of a few contemplations too.

  

I have created a few more Australian linked paintings since 2022. I have also achieved my PhD [Curtin University, Western Australia]. My PhD, "Drones, Signals, and the Techno-Colonisation of Landscape", was a creative practice-lead project examining increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Zooming In and Out Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2023

 

Suspended Landscape Oil on linen 67 x 61 cm 2023

Zooming In and Out and Suspended Landscape  [above] clearly depict the Australian continent. Both visually play with computer graphic-like markings, for example, geolocation, terrain visualisation, orienting, and targeting markers. This reflects my interest in how landscape is mapped to enable machines - remotely operated or autonomous - to operate in our earthly environment. Does this computer generated aesthetic affect our interpretations of landscape? How will humans need to accommodate a co-existence with robotic ground, air, sea machines? Lots of questions! Please click on the hyperlinked titles to read my original posts.

The three paintings below do not depict the Australian continent, but they do intersect with Australian endeavours. 

Ghost Shadows Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2023

            MQ-28 Ghost Bat  oil on 30 interchange-able boards 61 x 500 cm 2022-2023

Ghost Shadows and MQ-28 Ghost Bat are two paintings from a larger group that depict or include the Royal Australian Air Force and Boeing collaboratively developed MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone, previously called the Loyal Wingman. 

My multi piece work, MQ-28 Ghost Bat, was inspired by James Rosenquist's 1964-1965 massive 59 piece work F-111. In the early 1960s the F-111 was considered a gamechanger military aircraft. It was the first multi-modal combat aircraft - bombing and surveillance. Its wings folded back, and it flew at supersonic speeds. The Ghost Bat drone has been described as a gamechanger drone, also due to it multi-modal capabilities, including autonomous flying. 

Rosenquist's painting also reflected upon the bourgeoning 1960s consumer society and the military-industrial complex. My painting reflects upon the development of militarised machinery and systems in an increasingly network-centric world. Unlike Rosenquist's F-111, the pieces that make up my painting are interchangeable. This is an aesthetic intersection [a disruption] with new modes of war eg; mosaic war, multi-domain, network-centric, information, hybrid, cyber, electromagnetic warfare. That this cacophony inserts its influence into civilian technological needs, operations, and capabilities is also of critical interest and concern. 

And, there is a lot more to say! 

HYPERSONIC (AUKUS Dream) Oil on linen 56 x 112 cm 2022

HYPERSONIC: (AUKUS Dream) references Australia's commitment, through the AUKUS [Australia, United Kingdom, United States] partnership, to develop hypersonic weapons and counter-hypersonic capabilities. Like Zooming In and Out and Suspended Landscape I have visualised computer graphic-like markings - dots, circles - to 'map' hypersonic ballistic, glide and cruise missile trajectories. The painting 'suggests' they make an alternative landscape.  

The painted landscape of land and mountains, over which the trajectories and data points are mapped, is inspired by my childhood landscape. When I painted this I was thinking about the eastern view from our farm on the flat Pirrinuan plain [western Queensland], toward the Bunya Mountains. Please click on the hyperlink to take you to my original HYPERSONIC: (AUKUS Dream) post.

2022 UPDATE

I started this AUSTRALIA-ONLINE EXHIBITION on 26 January 2016. I updated it in 2017. And, now I have updated it again on 26 January 2022.

Since the last update in 2017 I've painted a few more Australia-themed paintings. Unlike the others, a couple of the newer paintings do not include the continent of Australia, but they are definitely Australian. One depicts Australia's Parliament House, and the other a segment of the Australian flag. 

Please click the hyperlinked titles to read more about each painting.

Wingman Oil on linen 97 x 115 cm 2020

Australian Landscape - A Metaphor Oil on linen 61 x 66 cm 2021

Not Waiting for the Future Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2018

Pay Attention: The Drones Are Here Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2019

Five Eyes and the Rest Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2019

Drones and Code: Future Now Oil on linen 40 x 56 cm 2018

AUSTRALIA

ONLINE EXHIBITION

Relaunched
26 January 2017.

In 2016 I curated an online exhibition of my paintings where the continent of Australia is the 'landscape' or part of a more cosmic-like landscape. 

Between January 2016 and January 2017 I created a few more paintings that depict the Australian continent from various perspectives - melting, cut in half, targeted and more. So, I've added them to the online exhibition. The original exhibition displayed paintings in a chronology from the most recent to those from 2010. This is now updated!

POLITICAL - ENVIRONMENTAL - SOCIAL ISSUES

The images of the Australian continent can be 'read' many ways, but they each have a capacity to intersect with current political, environmental and social issues. 

For example:

Interregnum was painted in direct response to the Australian Federal election where a hung parliament seemed likely. 

Aeropolitics Imagined and What If? directly refer to Australia's position within broader global issues associated with accelerating developments in militarised technology and the blurring of civilian and military use of infrastructure and systems. The figure of the unmanned airborne drone features in this two paintings.

I'll leave it up to you now!

* Click on the hyperlinked titles or the images to be taken to the previous posts where I discuss each work.

 Australia Turned Upside Down Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

 Dissolving Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

 Interregnum Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

 Aeropolitics Imagined Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

What If? Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Australian Landscape - Cutout Oil on linen 50 x 70 cm 2015

I include this 2015 in the updated exhibition because I had not included it in the original one.

ORIGINAL 2016 EXHIBITION 

[1] From The Other Side Gouache and Watercolour on Paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

AUSTRALIA

ONLINE EXHIBITION

 An exhibition of twelve paintings
completed between 2010

and 

26 January 2016

A few weeks ago I realised that over the years I have included the continent of Australia in many of my paintings. So, unlike my many landscape paintings which have been inspired by the Australian landscape, the paintings in this online exhibition all depict the Australian continent...as the landscape.

[2] Verso Watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016 

[3] Our Bright Future Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

This painting was inspired by watching Kevin Slavin's fabulous TED talk

  How Algorithms Shape Our World. At one point he says "It's a bright future if you're an algorithm."

GENERAL STATEMENT 

I have curated the exhibition with the latest paintings first. As you scroll down you will see how the images have reflected my thoughts, concerns and inspirations over time. 

Cosmology*, space, existential risk posed by emerging technologies *, age-old symbols [especially the tree-of-life] and associated themes are inspirational triggers for my paintings. However, underlying all of these is a desire to explore and re-negotiate concepts of landscape. 

Taking a cosmological point of view, I am particularly interested in un-tethering landscape from Earth-bound horizons to create what I call 'cosmic landscapes'. By doing this I propose that new perspectives of Earth, our Universal environment and humanity's place within it are revealed. 

We describe other planets, moons etc in landscape terms, so 'landscape' as a descriptor has already escaped Earth's horizons. 

* Cosmology is the scientific study of the Universe across all temporal and spatial scales.

* Existential risk posed by emerging technologies is a relatively new multi-disciplinary research area with aims to identify risks, develop mitigation strategies and ultimately ensure that technological development is for the benefit of humanity. 

[4] Simulated Landscape Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Binary code 'instructs' Australia! Welcome to the post 21st century! 

AUSTRALIA - UNLEASHED

In my very recent Australia paintings I have unleashed Australia from Earth! The continent seems to float in Space? By reversing Australia, filling it with binary code and extracting it from the globe I've attempted to reveal new perspectives which, I propose, provoke questions about what it means to be an Australian in the 21st century. Indeed, what does it mean to be a human, even an earthling, in this cosmological and technological 21st century?  

Stephen Hawking, in the lead up to this year's Reith Lecture, which he is giving on the 26 January, has commented that this century is significant, because exponential technological development presents not only amazing benefits, but also potentially apocalyptic possibilities. If we are to avoid the latter we need to be very careful now ie: this century. Hawking echoes the concerns of cosmologist Lord Martin Rees who made similar provocative comments in his 2003 book Our Final Century.  I have previously written about Rees's marvelous book where he goes into various apocalyptic scenarios, that could result in the annihilation of humanity and more. Sobering stuff, but also motivational.

I propose that Rees's and Hawking's concerns make it clear that whether we are Australian or not, we share a planet called Earth with all other humans and living creatures. It is our only home for the foreseeable future, so let's look after it and get on with each other. 

EARLIER AUSTRALIA PAINTINGS 

My earlier Australia paintings, whilst landscapes, are also statements about the Australian environment and how we commoditise it. Hence, I have used small $ signs to paint water and in the case of Commoditised [No: 7] I have used small red $ signs to paint the entire continent. The tree-of-life, which I have used in a number of paintings in this online exhibition, creates land, sea and sky as it cascades across paintings. By juxtaposing $ signs with the tree-of-life questions about how we think about 'value' are asked.

I grew up on a grain farm on the Darling Downs, Queensland and then spent many of my adult years further west, living in Goondiwindi, which is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. These earlier paintings reflect my observations, over many years, of water and associated issues.

 BUT

Whilst the paintings in this AUSTRALIA Online Exhibition have varying degrees of political agency they are not simply didactic. Why? Because, whether I have filled Australia with a tree-of-life, binary code, $ signs, turned it back to front, cut it out of the globe...I hope the paintings are open-ended enough to stir your wonder and imagine too.

[5] Privileged Landscape Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2015

PRIVILEGED LANDSCAPE

I have Privileged Landscape hanging in my dining area and I love it. I know I am the artist, but this one stops me in my tracks, even for an instant, every time I see it. Why? It's not only because of the arresting colour, it's because it makes me think...and laugh a bit. 

There is more than one landscape in Privileged Landscape. There's the whole painting...a cosmic landscape. And, there's the Australian continent floating in Space and then there's the cutout of Australia, with the Universe visible on the other side. The umbilical-like blue string conjures all sorts of thoughts about global relationships, historical connections, cosmological awareness and more... 

[6] Murray Darling Currency Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm  2012

MURRAY DARLING CURRENCY

A tree-of-life cascades across the painting creating Australia and the surrounding seas. The Murray Darling Basin is painted in small blue $ signs, to represent questions of value. I am also playing with the term 'currency' which can be applied to water and money, plus political cache. 

I grew up in rural Queensland and spent many of my adult years even further west. This painting and others like it, are inspired by decades living in the country and being acutely aware of water issues. 

[7] Lifeblood Oil on linen 70 x 140 cm 2011

LIFEBLOOD

In Lifeblood Australia is part of a world map created with the help of a tree-of-life. The red is symbolic of the fact that no matter what colour our skin is, or what religion we follow [or not], we all have red blood flowing through our veins. We all ultimately return to the Earth too. 

[8] Commoditised Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm 2011

COMMODITISED

This painting is self explanatory. However, like my other $ paintings, the viewer is not initially aware of the small $ signs. From a distance they are not discernible, but they are when viewed up close. This is a deliberate tactic on my part...

[9] From Another Perspective Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2011

FROM ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

As often happens when an artist reviews a body of their own work, I noticed a painting from 2011 that seems to herald my recent works. From Another Perspective depicts the Australian continent from both front and behind, or above or below, mirrored and not mirrored. The tree-of-life stands as a beacon of life. This painting was certainly the precursor of paintings done 3-5 years later. I can see that now...

[10] Underground Currency Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2010

UNDERGROUND CURRENCY

The area of the Great Artesian Basin, Australia's magnificent underground system of aquifers is painted in small blue $ signs. The word 'currency' in the title plays with ideas of water flow, money and political 'currency'. It also signifies that issues of water, and how we 'value' water, are current...contemporary topics. 

[11] Murray Darling Currency Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm [52 x 63 Framed] 2010

MURRAY DARLING CURRENCY [Above]

GAB: GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN [Below]

The work on paper above inspired the larger painting with the same title [No. 5 Murray Darling Currency above]. It is part of a series of paintings themed on water issues. Not all of them had $ signs

However, the one below has small $ signs symbolising the 'currency' of the great Artesian Basin! This painting inspired the large oil painting above called Underground Currency [No.10].

These two paintings are framed and look great hanging together.

[12] GAB: Great Artesian Basin Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm [ 52 x 63 cm Framed] 2010

 I hope you have enjoyed this 'exhibition':

All these paintings are available for purchase.

If you are interested please contact me by using the 

Contact Form

in the right column of this blog.

..........................................................................................

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

SIMULATED LANDSCAPE

Simulated Landscape Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

Regular readers will know that I have been using binary code in some of my recent paintings. Here's another one. 

'INSTRUCTING' AUSTRALIA
Binary code 'instructing' Australia is repeated across the outline of the Australian continent. Yet, the 'instructions' are never completed because I could not fit the code for 'Australia' into Australia...maybe the ocean covers them up? But, I quite liked that this happened. I liked that it happened because it poses questions about simulation and simulated experiences, virtual worlds and computer modeling. 

WHAT DATA?
If you were to simulate Australia, what data would you include? When I mean simulate, I mean as another world where art, music, literature, politics, religion, history, people with all their foibles, create environment, culture, modes of being and more. So, a simulation that is not simply as a land mass on a habitable planet.

If you are Australian there is likely to be a reasonable amount of data overlap with other Australians. However, if you have never visited Australia your data would be quite different. A younger person might provide different data to an older person. An Australian who has only lived in the city would provide data that is quite different to someone who has always lived in the country. An Indigenous person, for many reasons, would provide data that's different to a non-Indigenous person. A migrant would also have different information to an Indigenous or a non-Indigenous person. But, Big Data means that everyone's data would be accessible and therefore could be used to simulate Australia...scientists, archaeologists, geologists, farmers, lawyers, historians, memoirs from people long dead, children, images from satellites in space, phone records, social media use and updates, art, animals too... and the list is endless. But, would it be enough? The answer is...It could never be enough!

Virtual worlds may entice, for a variety of reasons, but when you think about it, the real world is vastly more nuanced, complex ...even beautiful and imperfect.

SIMULATED LANDSCAPE
So, my painting Simulated Landscape could be exactly that...a simulated landscape. After all, any painting of a landscape is a kind of simulation! It could also be a cosmic landscape, where Australia has become untethered from Earth and is floating as some kind of entity in space. Why? Well, who knows?! Maybe it's the source-code landscape lying somewhere, even beyond space. Wherever this 'landscape' is, there are reverberations like signals that emanate from the Australia-shaped entity.

Maybe these signals are hints that echo the melodies of music and song across millennia, the rhythms of human and non-human hearts , the inflection of endless breath, the pulses of wonder and imagination...never to be captured in mere simulation?

AUSTRALIA DAY ONLINE EXHIBITION

Keep an eye out for my Australia Day Online Exhibition which I will launch here on this BLOG on the 24 th January, two days before Australia Day. 

I am doing this for a couple of reasons, one being that I realised, when I was recently going through my image data-base, that I actually have quite a few paintings depicting Australia. And, these depictions are not landscapes of scenes [I have heaps of them] but paintings where I depict the continent of Australia.  

I also do love Australia and consider myself lucky to be Australian, so it is an exhibition of homage too. 

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

MY LANDSCAPE AND SPAGETTIFICATION

 My Landscape Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

ME/YOU
Here's me, in the painting above, with my arms and legs stretched across a landscape, that could be read as an aerial view of the Australian outback...after some rain!

Or, it could be read as a cosmic view with me floating in an endless space....my arms and legs stretched to the edges of time and the universe.

Or, maybe I am in the process of spagettification as I enter the event horizon at the entrance of a black hole where gravity is so dense that time stops.

But maybe it's just a shadow of me where light is playing tricks with my body?

And, here's another possibility, it could be a posthuman me...my body simulated with some kind of code, so that 'I' feel like 'I' have a body...except the code may not have worked because 'I' am a stretched version of a human body, not really what the 'source code' ie: the real me looked like?

But, this figure does not have to be me. It could be you! It could be anyone or all of us. 

FLYING BRIDES
In the past I have painted many images of figures floating or flying above a landscape and even in space. Here's an example below, Living With Distance. A bride floats above the Earth, her veil sweeping across the atmosphere as if forming clouds. This painting plays with the word distance in obvious and not-so-obvious ways. I painted a number of flying brides a few years ago. You can see more HERE

Living With Distance Oil on linen 120 x 160 [diptych] 2001 - 2002

OUT NEAR THE MOON

And, the painting below is called When I Was A Child I Dreamt I could Fly. In this painting I am not merely flying above a known landscape, I am flying out near the Moon! Here's a link to a previous post called School Holidays where I write more about this painting. Yes, I actually did dream I could fly...and sometimes I was not asleep!

Actually, I've painted a few paintings where the Moon features...and with floating/flying human figures too. Here's a link to a post I wrote called Moon

When I Was A Child I Dreamt I Could Fly oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2003

REFLECTING ON MY PRACTICE AND CHILDHOOD LANDSCAPE

I have found writing this post to be very useful. Actually concentrating on a theme like flying has helped me see how my current work links with my previous work. It's not so surprising that I have gravitated towards cosmic landscapes and an interest in how humanity will navigate the future in this universe. 

I also am very aware of the influence of landscape, especially the distance in the Australian landscape AND especially the distance of my childhood landscape...the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain, between Dalby and Jimbour, Queensland, Australia. It really provided the space for many launches!

REMINDER 

ADELAIDE

THURSDAY FEB 4 at 6 PM

Hosted by Southern Hemisphere Space Program 

at the University of South Australia
in conjunction with the International Space University, Strasbourg, France. 

'Space and Popular Culture'

Panel discussion 

With me, under-water performance artist and Everest mountaineer Sarah-Jane Pell and comedian and Mars One candidate Josh Richards with facilitator, space archaeologist Dr. Alice Gorman.

All the details and registration HERE

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

POSTHUMAN MODES OF BEING?

Posthuman Modes Of Being? Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016 

Many Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

NEWS

ADELAIDE

THURSDAY FEB 4 at 6 PM

Hosted by Southern Hemisphere Space Program 

at the University of South Australia
in conjunction with the International Space University, Strasburg. 

'Space and Popular Culture'

Panel discussion 

With me, under-water performance artist and Everest mountaineer Sarah-Jane Pell and comedian and Mars One candidate Josh Richards with facilitator, space archaeologist Dr. Alice Gorman.

All the details and registration HERE

POSTHUMANIST INSPIRATION

Regular readers will note that I am on a roll with my posthumanist inspiration! 

My more recent inspirations are stimulated by my M. Phil research degree at the University of Queensland. My paintings are not part of the degree, but I am building a body of work reflecting upon my research. Early days.......................................

Existential risk posed by emerging technologies research, which I've previously mentioned many times is scientifically based, future focused and necessarily largely speculative. Given that existential risk means the potential for human species extinction, posthuman scenarios are part of the extended 'conversation'. Here are few reasons why. 

1. We may need to become posthuman in order to 'survive' cataclysmic events which are either human-made or other. 

2. Some people desire a posthuman existence to enable a possibly endless 'life', thus these people will aim to development pathways. 

3. We may morph into posthuman modes of being without really noticing eg: merging with artificial intelligence. The question being whether artificial intelligence or humans have actually orchestrated such an outcome. 

4. Other reasons that you may think of!

So, posthuman futures could occur out of necessity, desire or insidiousness...even accident?

NEW PAINTINGS

Posthuman Modes Of Being? is similar to another recent painting A Posthuman Habitat. In both paintings a mesh of binary code seems to hover above a background that suggests a landscape, a past. The mesh is like an alternative 'habitat'. In both paintings I have painted binary code 'instructing' words I AM, I am, I am? and lots of question marks.Uploaded minds trying to work out who they are maybe? In both paintings the tree, my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life, acts as a beacon, which I argue, is a 'code' in itself. 

TREE - CODE - MY PREFERRED POSTHUMAN FUTURE

How is my tree a code? Well, let's imagine another kind of posthuman future. This is my preferred one. The sun dies, Earth is destroyed in the sun's death throes, Earth is scattered as dust and debris across space. BUT, we humans, possibly long extinct due to Earth's final eons with an inhospitable climate, lie as remains within Earth's dust. SO, we are scattered across space too! We return to the stars as star dust. ALL OF US! And, who knows as universal machinations occur another life-form similar to or possibly the same as humans, could somehow evolve from our 'dust'. Thus, my tree is the code-clue to the power of life and star dust...

I called the second painting Many because this painting could be many things! One is that all those coloured dots could be human star dust scattered across space after Earth is destroyed. Or, each dot could be another universe...idea...option... 

I like the way the two paintings play off each other...in many ways.

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

EXO

 Exo Gouache and watercolour on paper 21 x 30 cm 2015

EXOPLANET
'Exo' a prefix, has Greek origins. It means external, outside from. In the last few years I have been introduced to the word exoplanet, which is a planet that orbits another star ie: it is outside our solar system. Astronomers have discovered quite a number of exoplanet candidates, which then go through further analysis before they are confirmed as exoplanets. Of these a small number are considered to be orbiting in the habitable zone of their host suns. To be considered as potentially habitable, the planet must orbit in the Goldilock's Zone ie: not too hot nor too cold, thus the possibility of an environment that may support human life. Or, the other tantalising possibility is that an alien life may exist on these planets.

Previous exoplanet posts!
Super Earths
New World Habitability: Vacation Anyone?
Entrance

EXODUS
'Exodus' is a noun, again with Greek origins, that means a mass departure of people...to somewhere 'outside of' or 'external to' a place of origin. The discovery of exoplanets has some people dreaming of alternative planetary 'homes' for us humans. For example as the Earth tumbles towards its demise, whether human induced or not, maybe there are places we humans can escape to? The only problem is that identified potentially habitable exoplanets are a looooong way from Earth, with present propulsion technology delivering us there in multiple hundreds of thousands of years. We'd need to develop speed of light travel to drastically reduce travelling time...let alone various other issues.

Previous 'Exodus' post:
Home

EXO
My painting  Exo [above] could be of an exoplanet, but then again it could be something else that's outside or external...but from what? Maybe it is another universe? Maybe it's inspiration, freedom, a speck of dust, a thought...waiting to be grasped?

Yes, Exo it is one of my cosmic landscapes that can be 'read' as something vast at the same time as something intimate. By playing with perspective I try yo give a sense of movement or travelling...perhaps a speed of light kind of travel?

Exodus Gouache and watercolour on paper 34.5 x 44 cm 2015

EXODUS
In Exodus I imagine humans having to flee Earth to take up 'residence' on a distant planet....an exoplanet identified as welcoming! In this painting a person is glued to their computer, while a rocket takes off with a flight path that sees it traverse space before 'leaving' the known to venture into the unknown beyond the painting. 

Here's a 'haves and haves not' scenario for you! I imagine that some people will be chosen to leave and others will be convinced, through simulation, that they are also to leave. But, because life has become a simulated 'experience' they are unaware that mortal death actually awaits them. I wrote this short poem a couple of years ago for my Flick of a Switch post: 

It’s time for Earthlings to flee their dying planet. Another home had been prepared. The ships have been built and one by one the people come, ready to embark.

The nervous excitement soars as count-down is commenced.

The last few seconds... 3-2-1

Blast off!

A sensation of flight.

For some, the simulated experience is so comforting that mortal death arrives before they realise it.

For others ...a new life!

___________________________________________________

Exo and Exodus are part of my ongoing series looking into the future of humanity, ideas of untethering landscape from Earth-bound horizons, posthuman futures, age-old symbols and more....

Please check out some of my recent posts: 

A Posthuman Habitat?

Two Humans: Uploaded 

Human Landscape

Text and Code

Picturing the Posthuman

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

A POSTHUMAN 'HABITAT'?

I am Am I? Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

This new painting [above] follows on from some other recent paintings where I have incorporated binary code. 

In I am Am I? I have repeated binary code 'instructing' the words I am, I AM, Am I?. 

These 'instructed' words exist outside some kind of portal which maybe a destination or possibly it's a place of departure...a place already left behind? Yet, you can still see, although faintly, the markings of this place under the dark blue. Maybe the blue is a sheath that co-exists in parallel with what seems to be a  more colourful world beyond? Maybe this sheath is another kind of 'habitat', one where downloaded minds, in a posthuman future, might 'exist'. This sheath could be some kind of a sophisticated superconductor, holding everything together? The small trees, my interpretations of the age-old transcultural/religious symbol of the tree-of-life, are reminders of human embodied existence. I have placed them alongside the binary code to indicate that they are also 'code'. In a posthuman future the tree symbol may embed  a  'code' that simulates human feelings, emotions, desires and more? 

If minds are downloaded for an 'existence' in a posthuman future surely questions about I would be significant...but then again maybe not...hence the ????

So...these downloaded minds may have 'left' the world glimpsed through the portal in the middle of the painting. Maybe it was the only way to escape some kind of apocalyptic situation that threatened the extinction of humanity and the annihilation of Earth? 

The place seen through the portal may be the past, or possibly the future.

What do you think?

As you can tell, I am having fun with these new paintings. 

And, yes...this is another painting that I would call a cosmic landscapes!

Other recent posts and paintings are:

Two Humans: Uploaded 

Human Landscape

Text and Code

Picturing the Posthuman

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

TWO HUMANS - UPLOADED

 Two Humans Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

NEWS

On February 4th 2016, in Adelaide, South Australia, I am part of a panel discussing 'Space and Popular Culture'.

This public event is being hosted by the International Space University and the University of South Australia’s ‘Southern Hemisphere Space Program’. It will be at 6 pm, at the BH2-09 Lecture Theatre, City West Campus, Adelaide. Click HERE to visit the public events page and register.

HUMANS - POSTHUMANS

I am having fun with my code paintings. Regular readers will know that a few of my recent posts have explored code and text in my work.

Two Humans. 

In Two Humans I've painted/instructed the word Human in binary code, twice. I've used multiple colours to give my humans some kind of nuance, personality, individuality. Both of my humans seem to hover in space, but then again the background may be the inside of a computer or a generated simulated environment, which would require even more code. But, it could also be space too.

This painting could be one of my cosmic landscapes...maybe a posthuman landscape...a post-Earth landscape. Perhaps it’s a future image of uploaded minds tripping around space, exploring its expanding parameters, long after our Earthly anchoring landscape no longer exists. I wonder if they'd 'feel' nostalgic, or a sense loss, anger, frustration...? Whatever, they might 'feel' I imagine them forming a kind of scape within the fabric of the universe! Kind of lonely really.

But, my two humans are not necessarily two separate humans...for indeed one could be a backup! I know, I know... the colour sequence does not match/mirror, but maybe this is deliberate? Maybe its more like an upgrade potential?

There are many interpretations! 

Previous Post
HUMAN LANDSCAPE

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

HUMAN LANDSCAPE

Human Landscape Gouache on paper 66 x 30 cm 2015

Firstly: Please click HERE to read my latest newsletter - Christmas greetings and studio news. 

MORE TEXT AND CODE

This post follows on from my last one Text and Code where I wrote about my interest in using text, but also binary code. I am interested in the latter not only for the 'instructional' capacities of binary code, but also to tease out its aesthetic possibilities, in juxtaposition with other symbolic and representational elements...such as my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life and landscape.

Human Landscape

So...in this post I have uploaded my latest work on paper Human Landscape  [above] where binary code instructs  Human and Landscape. The string of binary code takes on a horizon-like appearance, as does the word Landscape. I am playing with a number of things though. In this algorithmic contemporary world our lives are influenced by code on a daily, if not minute by minute, basis. Some would say that our lives are determined by it eg: travel, banking, email, social media, new media art, data collection and more. There's also an interest in how the body, embodiment, phenomenology and the human sensorium are possibly envisaged, manipulated, eroded, enhanced, transformed, alienated by the digital world. So, in my paintings I am keen to explore ways to expose code, possibly transform it, maybe enhance it or even erode its invisibility, by making it visible. This visibility is not provided by the digital but by the human hand...extracting code from normally 'clean' and precise looking presentations. There is a contrariness in my desire to paint code...it's fun.

Human Landscape is a triptych, like I Am Am I ? in my last post. And, because both paintings are made up of three separate parts, they can be arranged in different combinations. I am not precious about their arrangements, because new stories may emerge. But, the arrangement of Human Landscape as seen above, for me at least, tells a story about the connections the human body has with the land. When we die, whether buried or cremated, our body returns to the land, in some way or another. And, ultimately when the Earth is savaged by the death throes of the Sun, our remains, every human ever born along with our Earth, will be scattered across space, returning to star dust. Thus, I have painted a human figure as if it is the land, with its legs and arms extending into river-like or horizon-like trajectories. The tree-of-life is growing out of this 'embodiment' of land transforms the figure into a kind of root-like connective element too. For me the small tree creates perspective, not only visual, but also temporal. The bottom image, for me, is the future. 

Regular readers will identify that Human Landscape is also a cosmic landscape, and part of my quest to untether  ideas of landscape from Earth-bound horizons.

The painting below Coded Landscape is another 'landscape' where I have used binary code to create the impression of maybe mountains or possibly some kind of structure seen from above, maybe a track, a billabong or even....the remnants of landscape in space?

Coded Landscape Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm 2015

I have previously painted landscapes with text. Here are a few:

This is a Landscape Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2001

In This is a Landscape I have written landscape over and over again, between the tree trunks. 

          Works on paper from Here Comes The Bride exhibition at Soapbox Gallery, Brisbane, 2003

  Text included painting middle row second from right. This painting is called Bride in the Landscape

The images above and below show a small selection of the around 70 works on paper I exhibited in my solo exhibition Here Comes The Bride held at Soapbox Gallery, Brisbane, 2003. The exhibition had a sub-theme of the bride in the landscape. I included text in a few of the paintings. I warn you , the text is a bit dark, but the paintings are essentially about the body being embraced, or possibly consumed, by the land. These paintings were inspired by my observations of country women...those women who often literally work the land, along side their farmer husbands/partners, but also the women who give so much of their spirit to rural communities. These women often sacrifice, not only material things, but companionship, culture, education. Yet, many try to encourage these things to occur in their communities. I've witnessed this first hand.....participated in it too.

        Works on paper from Here Comes The Bride exhibition at Soapbox Gallery, Brisbane, 2003
                                         Text included middle row middle and top left.

Below is another example of text...but also another kind of code ie: the $ sign. This painting is called Earth For Sale and is painted entirely with small $ signs, which are not discernible form a distance, however, they become evident when the painting is viewed up close. As I have previously written this is a deliberate ploy on my part, to provoke the necessity for close scrutiny as well as taking perspectives from further away. This dance back and forth is like a cosmological dance with perspective. 

Earth for Sale Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2008

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com  

TEXT AND CODE

I AM Am I ? Gouache on paper, Triptych 66 x 30 cm, 2015

I have used text in my paintings for some years, but mainly words, not code. I've listed some of my earlier work  at the bottom of this post. My interest in code entered my paintings, this year, in 2015.

In fact, my last exhibition was called CODE.

RIBBONS OF BINARY CODE
Regular readers will know that I have been experimenting with painting binary code as text 'instructing' certain words. But, my interest is not only the words or the code. I am also interested in how binary code can be an aesthetic element that can 'dance', or be juxtaposed, with other visual elements, such as symbols, landscape forms and more. And, in turn, how this aesthetic element can make visible something which is not visible, but incredibly influential in our daily lives. I am interested in how this new visibility, in tandem with other pictorial elements, can translate into re-interpretations of symbols, landscape and more.

I treat the binary code as a seemingly playful element, that the viewer is not initially aware of. The playfulness is achieved by using colour, often multiple colours, for the strings of zeros and ones, forming them into ribbons that evoke bunting, party ties and more. An example from earlier this year is  Unseen [below]. The playfulness, however, is deliberately provocative. I am questioning how unseen code influences so many aspects of contemporary life. Viewers, whilst seeing colourful twirling ribbon-like markings, are initially unaware that these are painted zeros and ones. They need to get up close...a deliberate 'tactic' on my part, as it conveys the necessity to enquire, scrutinise and question. Some viewers do not even recognise the zeros and ones, as code. These reactions mimic [metaphorically] the unawareness many people have of the algorithmic world operating beyond our sensibilities. I've watched people view my paintings, as they move from a distance, to up close, then back again. After seeing my work up close and then returning to a distance, my paintings become something other than the initial first impression. And, then...when viewers put on 3D glasses, many of my paintings separate into layers.

PAINTING CODE!
The provocativeness does not end there though. Contemporary new media art uses code, eg: imbedded in computer-based artist tools or, in some cases, where artists may write their own code. I am but a painter of the traditional kind, so cannot 'use' code to help me manifest my work, but I can 'use' it in other ways. By painting zeros and ones, imbedded within larger visual and aesthetic contexts that a painting implies, I make code visible. By painting it with my hands-on technique of brush and paint, I suggest, that I 'cleanse' it of its 'perfection', by messing it up...with colour, uneven brushstrokes and possible mistakes! A kind of reverse engineering?

Unseen Oil on linen 90 x 80 cm 2015

I AM Am I?
My new triptych I AM Am I ? 'plays' with binary code in a slightly different way to some of my other recent works ie: Picturing the Posthuman and Beyond Mortality This new work does, however, echo some of my interests expressed in this recent work. Generally, I am fascinated by the trajectory humankind seems to be taking...one where being human is under some kind of re-negotiation, where promises of technological enhancement abound. However, whilst there are pros, there are also potential negatives, recognised and unrecognised, that could mean annihilation of the human species. [Regular readers will know of my interest in existential risk posed by emerging technologies research.]

So...in my new painting I have painted, in the middle section, 'I  AM' and 'Am I', in binary code. There is a recognisable question mark after the coded 'Am I' to create a dislocation between statement and possible question. On the bottom section I have painted binary code that instructs the question mark sign...plus a ? mark, re-enforcing the need to ask questions. The top section plays with figurative and landscape elements - horizon lines, planetary shapes and my age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life. The tree's roots seem to travel along the horizon line to meet the two figures. The roots then plunge into the 'soil' via the figures' limbs. Yet, the middle binary code section offers another kind of 'soil'. I've even 'watered' it, as you can see from the way the paint has run.

I have deliberately made sure that I AM is in capital letters. Why? I AM means something different to I am. The latter invites a continuation of a sentence, a description of some kind, whereas the former is a statement. Hence the following....Am I?

I have a  lot more thoughts about this work, but I will now leave it for you to 'play' with.

EXAMPLES OF OTHER TEXT BASED WORK

Water Harvesting Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

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

 Planet $ Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

PICTURING THE POSTHUMAN

Picturing the Posthuman Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

 

 

PICTURING THE POSTHUMAN

 

TRANSHUMAN and POSTHUMAN

I have been thinking about posthumanism, transhumanism, existential risk posed by emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence...especially regarding increasingly autonomous weapons eg: weaponised drones. AND, I have been thinking about how to convey some of these ideas in my paintings, without being  illustrative or providing an 'artist's impression' - like a scifi image.

 

Posthumanism is a kind of end point of transhumanism. Transhumanists believe that the human is compromised by biology. They propose that technology can alleviate biological limitations and enhance abilities, such as intelligence. They aim for 'singularity', the ultimate posthuman condition. But 'singularity' could mean that  there's no body at all. The ultimate cleansing! And, definitely posthuman! An example is: downloading minds to be algorithmically encoded for an eternal unembodied 'existence'. However, I'd argue that the posthuman label could be applied well before the body became completely obsolete. 

It's all absolutely fascinating! 

 

PAINTING

And, my interest in creating paintings that 'speak' of these fascinating, but also concerning issues, is a contrary one!  Painting, with brush and paint like I do, is not hi-tech. What can something that sits outside the contemporary technological frame generally, and new-media frame specifically, provide? For me...it reminds me of being human.

 

So, to Picturing the Posthuman  - here is a painting that seems to offer two choices, but it's much more complex than that. The spiral of binary code repeats the word 'resurrection'. It implies that a posthuman existence, such as the downloading of minds, could be classed as some kind of intent to resurrect 'life'. The small tree...yes, my transcultural religious tree-of-life... is surrounded by colourful dots, that could be stars, thoughts, other small but indiscernible trees? At the outer edges there are random zeros and ones, indicating the present day world where technology influences our lives. 

Like two galaxies about to collide, this painting presents a possible tense situation. Another way of thinking about the painting is that two posthuman worlds exist, one where existence is an ordered posthuman future, the other where technology has become self propelling and out of the control. leaving humanity in a chaotic posthuman half-life future. But then...who's to say this is not already the case? 

I am sure you can think of a few scenarios for this painting too...I've certainly got more...

 

The cosmic background suggests time...time to make decisions...or that it is time to make the right decisions. As cosmologist and astronomer Lord Martin Rees, wrote in his 2003 book 'Our Final Century' What happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter.Martin Rees, Our Final Century: A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future in This Century—On Earth and Beyond (New York: Basic Books, 2003) p.7-8

NEWS

 

I am very excited to let you know about a scholarly article which has been published about my paintings Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox: Paintings 2002 - 2010 by Dr. Christine Dauber [PhD. Art History]. The article has been published online at the innovative PANOPTIC PRESS. 

 

To whet your appetite here are two quotes:

 

It must first be understood that in these latter paintings, Brimblecombe–Fox is not so much concerned with landscape painting per se, but in a Warburgian sense, searches for the universal connections, or common ground between people, races and religions. In doing this she searches for a means to overcome the violence that exists in and between barriers to cultural understanding. Dr. Christine Dauber [PhD. Art History].

and

Similarly, in relation to Brimblecombe-Fox’s more recent work, the description “contemporary landscape artist” can actually  be deceiving, for although she still uses elements and images that are drawn from nature such as a tree, a leaf or an island, she travels in new dimensions as she expands her concerns with the landscape into global questions on ecology and world harmony. Dr. Christine Dauber [PhD. Art History].

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE EVERYWHERE ABYSS

The Everywhere Abyss Gouache and Watercolour on paper 29 x 37 cm 2015

 

 

SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE

This week, I went to Sydney to attend the Sydney Peace Prize lecture and dinner. This year's very deserving winner is Australian artist George Gittoes. An inspired choice by those who selected him. It's the first time an artist has been given the award and he is among illustrious company. You can read about previous winners HERE .

 

GITTOES - ART

Gittoes, since 1986, has worked in many war and conflict zones around the world, either with Australian Peacekeeping forces or on his own volition. He draws, paints, photographs and makes documentary films. His photographs are photo-journalism, capturing human extremes for records and witness. His drawings are intimate connections with those who are experiencing or have experienced the extreme depravity of human behaviour. I have seen a couple of photos of him drawing in the field [so to speak] and you can see the connection between him and his subjects...and those who mill around to see what's going on. Drawing takes time and in this time Gittoes' attention on his subject gifts them a restored humanity, sometimes at the edge of death or in death. The technologically un-mediated aspect of these encounters injects life, fully cognisant of its extremes. Gittoes's drawings, more often than not, have handwritten text around the borders or on one side of the paper. Here, he tells his stories about the encounter he has taken time to draw.

 

Gittoes' paintings, painted in his studio, use the drawings and photographs as referential points, to create images that are majestic...because they are intensely about life and humanity, in extremes. The images can be very confronting for Gittoes does not sensor. After drawing someone and looking intently into their eyes, there's a silent pact to tell their story. In Gittoes' case these stories are more often than not unimaginably shocking. The paintings are not simply copies of photographs or even the drawings, because Gittoes uses paint like it breaths new life. There is nothing pristine, cleansed or simply copied. His paintings resurrect life, at the same time as intensely critiquing warfare and conflict. They are not simply didactic, but instead declare 'I Witness' and now you do too!

 

Gittoes gave an amazing speech at Sydney's Town Hall. It was more like a conversation, where different stories lead to insights that are also confronting. The thing is...these insights are from someone who has spent decades not only witnessing war and conflict and their aftermaths, but also spending time with people, talking, drawing...and helping. Remarkably he and his partner Helen Rose live much of the time, in Jalalabad in Afghanistan, where they have set up an artists' community called the Yellow House.

 

THE ARTIST

One of Gittoes paintings that I think is really interesting is called The Artist, oil on canvas 210 x 173cm, 1996. You can see it on Gittoes' website on this page 5th down on the right side or at his Brisbane dealer's Mitchell Fine Art site HERE.

 

Gittoes has painted a figure who holds a paint brush, an artist. This figure seems to hover above an abyss, but you soon realise that safe passage is afforded by small yellow stepping-stone-like clouds that the artist paints. In the background, what seems like a cityscape is actually an array of gun shells littering the horizon.  So, I ask, how bad could the abyss be, if on the surface warfare has scarred the landscape, left it denuded and life is still? Maybe the abyss symbolises change? Maybe it symbolises confronting the self on the surface, in order to discover depths of humanity?

 

The artist wears night vision glasses, those vision-aides that soldiers use to see at night. I have thought about these night vision glasses a lot...why does an artist need them? Gittoes seems to be saying, if you want safe passage, if you want peace, let the artist guide you...the artist is a warrior too, but one who bravely creates the possibility of new worlds, communication and connection. Given, that the artist can paint stepping stone clouds, it's obvious the artist can traverse the abyss from its depths to its surface. The artist can move about the abyss like a guide!

 

THE EVERYWHERE ABYSS

So...the abyss in Gittoes' painting The Artist really got me thinking about 'the abyss' as a concept.

 

The abyss is not such a bad thing! It actually reminds us of human endeavour. It is the space we straddle where concepts of the sublime swamp us with majestic and poetic thoughts. It propels us! It can offer renewal.

 

My new painting seems to speak of a cosmic abyss...yes another of my cosmic landscapes! Without the abyss and its opposite, the horizon....where would life exist? Maybe nowhere...a nowhere place that seduces with simulation....................................................................the computer, ipad, smart phone????? That's why I have painted an 'everywhere abyss' to remind us to look up from our screens.

 

The horizon is something I have previously written about. Indeed, growing up on the flat treeless black soil Pirrinuan Plain in S W Queensland, the horizon was ever present. It lay in the west as a flat line, which often disappeared behind a mirage, or was swamped by grey rain, or incredibly delineated by stunning sunsets. Yet, in the East the majestic Bunya Mountains cut a silhouette against the sky. I lived on a flat plain at the bottom of a mountain range...maybe even abysses have horizons?

 

 

Horizon Posts

Coded Landscape and the Black Soil Plain

In Sight

Beyond Yesterday  

Art Science Imagination and Wonder

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

 

 

 

IN THE CRADLE AND THE FUTURE

In The Cradle Gouache and water colour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2015

 

This new work on paper plays with the idea of the 'cradle of civilisation' which historically refers to the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where first civilisations appeared around 6,000 years ago. But, the 'cradle of civilisation' can be interpreted in other ways. One of these is to think about the human mind as a cradle...after all civilisation was determined by humankind's abilities to invent practical tools and systems, as well as aesthetic, intellectual and social ways of being.  To be civilised connotes many nuanced and sophisticated creative, intellectual, spiritual behaviours, processes, imaginings. 

 

So, my painting In The Cradle could be read as some kind of aerial map of river systems or it could be a kind of mind map. The branching tree line-work not only gives the impression of water systems, but also synapses in the human brain. As regular readers will recognise, the tree-shape references my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life and all that it means to humanity's past, present and hopefully into the future.

 

The three red dots are referential points or symbols of humanity. One dot is embraced within the branching tree-river-synapse. Another red dot is cradled by the arching line and the last dot sits at the end of this line. I see this as marking points on a trajectory...a trajectory for humanity. The last red dot sits outside the cradle of civilisation or even life, as if it is about to launch to something beyond. This could represent a post-human future where the cradle is no longer needed, where the signs of life, represented by the tree, are also no longer needed. Maybe this is heralding the transhuman future where humans and machines merge? I wonder what part, if anything, of the tree as a symbol of life, will remain?

 

The red dot at the end of the arching line does appear to have a choice though. It could continue on a trajectory that loses sight of the tree. Or, it could swing back and rejoin...obviously changed by its trajectory, but still connected to something familiar.

 

Regular readers will also recognise that In The Cradle is another of my cosmic landscapes. Yes, a landscape, but one untethered from Earth-bound horizons, thus taking in the universe as our vast environment. By doing this, the cosmological perspective is offered as a way of viewing humanity and its future.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com