DISTANCE-LESS-NESS

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

The two images above are close-up details of the painting I am currently working on. This painting is a further investigation of my ideas which I explored in 'In the Garden of Eden' which was the subject of my BLOG post of August 5 . http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/08/garden-of-eden.html Again the tree-of-life and the tree-of-knowledge are pivotal motifs, but like 'In the Garden Of Eden' I have included Adam and Eve ,who for me, simply represent humankind. The crossing over of the two trees creates and reclaims the feminine symbol of the sacred Yoni which meaningfully implies the feminine within all.

In the new painting I have painted Adam asleep. In the bible story he was put into a sleep state to allow for the extraction of his rib to form Eve. Following is a quote from my August 5 BLOG post...."She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him." [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary] Eve eternally shares a part of Adam just as Adam also experiences the feminine. The absent part of his rib represents Eve's presence within. Absentia does not mean lack of inclusion. With these thoughts in mind culpability for the Temptation ascribed soley to Eve seems rather lame or perhaps opportunistic.

It has been suggested that the Bible story actually does not record Adam ever waking up, thus posing a very interesting proposition. In fact, is life an illusion or a dream? Are we Adam's dream into which we are propelled in order to sort out the big questions posed by the battle between good and evil [error]? This proposition opens up a myriad of questions which go to the core of existence...and not just in this human dimension. This is the power of myth.

This brings me to a very interesting post on the Elightenment Next BLOG http://blog.enlightennext.org/?p=1723 The post includes an article called TRUE JIHAD by Elizabeth Debold. She suggests that the true jihad is, in fact, the battle of the ego with the spiritual potential within us all. I quote, 'The truer, greater meaning of jihad refers to the battle for the utter liberation of the spirit from the tyrannical nafs—the unconscious motivation in the human psyche that insists on separation and division. The nafs—or ego—is the ultimate terrorist, changing disguises with shape-shifting ease, scurrying within the labyrinth of the mind, setting off explosions of fear and rage, never quite visible until war has been declared and a warrant for its capture, dead or alive, has been issued.'

I have previously written on the BLOG about the role of myth. As time goes on I have an even great sense that misplacement of myth ,which I believe is largely a result of post modernism's slippery decline into narcissism and glorified pastiche, is a far greater loss than we may have realised. For me, myth is a conduit to the inner sanctums of the spiritual potential within us all. Myth will take people places that are undreamed or unimagined until they are awakened. And, upon awakening there is the potential for more discovery. Post modernism forces a sense of sitting outside with enticements to enter, but upon entry it slips away. This, of course is its arrogant subtefuge, because it knows that if discovered there is nothing there. Myth, on the other hand, beckons with its depth and confident potency. I have written about post modernism @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-implosion.html

Debold, in her article True Jihad admits to the role of post modernism when she says, 'In my postmodern arrogance, I assumed that the great traditions lacked the sophistication of our modern psychological understanding. But, increasingly, I am coming to understand that it is our contemporary view that lacks depth because, so often, it blunts the sharpness of distinctions that give dignity to the human struggle.'

I am particularly interested in Debold's arguments about ego. I won't go into a broad discussion about it, but I will make some comments with reference to art/artists and ego. Readers of my BLOG would know that I have previously written about ego with reference to my experiences exhibiting in the Middle East and the conversations I had with people who came to my exhibitions from all over the region, Africa and Eastern Europe. As a result of these conversations I realised I do not complete my paintings. They are, in fact, completed by every conversation they stimulate. These conversations can be internally with oneself or with others. Thus, my paintings have the potential to have multiple completions. When I realised this I had to consciously let go of my ego, because I recognised that a part of me wanted to hold onto the meaning of my work. Yet, when I thought about it, each person I had had a conversation with drew more from my work than I had initially ascribed. In fact, by holding on I was a limiting factor. By letting go, I feel free and I know my work is free to do whatever its potential is.

What struck me was that the tree-of-life motif was the element which drew people into conversation with me. This transcultural/religious motif needed no explanation, yet I had used it in non-traditional ways. The willingness of people to share their dreams, hopes, ideas and sometimes despair with me was very humbling. Yet, it was really the power of one motif which opened up the commuication. This motif is intrinsic to many stories from across religions and cultures. This motif has helped my understand the importance of myth.

So, for me myth is timeless and eternal. Through myth we can find rich pathways to the inner sactums of our spiritual potential. If this is the case, then time seems inconsequential. And, as I have written before, if time does not exist then neither does distance and space. Maybe myth is a way to distance-less-ness where axiomatically there are no limits to Myth's capacity.

Kathryn

PS: I should finish my new painting in the next week.

PPS: This painting has been preselected for the $15,000 Manning Art prize announced 19 Sept http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/angels-wings.html

A Moment

I am intensely interested in the idea that a frisson is a 'distance' which can be close and/or far and that the space between is replete with anticapatory energy. For instance the moment before a romantic kiss, when the distance between two people is physically close but not closed, is full of heightened anticipation and possibility. This brief moment ‘sees’ time and space dancing with each other causing a rich frisson where everything seems to stand still and the world seems distance-less.

This new painting above is called 'A Moment' and I wanted to give the impression that time and space dance intimately in a suspended frisson. I wanted to 'picture' a moment. I have used my much loved tree-of-life motif to represent past and future. I also deliberately used the circle to represent time as cyclical rather than linear. The circle also reminds us of the rungs of a cut tree. These rungs tell us how old a tree might have been, thus are indicators of earthly time passing.

Yet, time may not exist at all beyond this mortal existence. I am reminded of a few lines in a poem called 'Out There' written by my grandmother D.E Ross, [the entire poem is copied below my post]

Time is not negotiated
wasted or lost:
an hour rates high in our accounting here:
yet a thousand years
could be held as a breath on the wind
Out There.

If time does not exist except perhaps 'as a breath of wind', one then has to question the existence of distance and thus perspective, both being some kind of temporal and spatial measurement of perception. I wonder if both distance and perspective are necessary processes and/or processors we need to move towards a 'knowing' which goes beyond human perception. After all we must know who we are not before we can truly know who we really are. With reference to my last post 'In the Garden Of Eden' I am reminded that Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden to experience good and error [I prefer error to evil] in order to know who they are not so they can know who they are. The story is a parable to propel us in mind and soul beyond to 'Out There'.

The tree-of-life in 'A Moment' is like a gossamer creating a veil. This veil is time. Once the veil is lifted I can imagine distance, space and perspective collapsing into a non-existence which paradoxically remembers them. Thus they exist in absentia. In fact, my grandmother's poem in stanza two clearly irradicates boundaries created by compass points or positioning. My grandmother wrote this poem about death, but to my mind she wrote about a 'knowing' of another life...


Out There
By D. E Ross
[copyright]

1.
I do not cringe before the opening door
to Outside,
but brace muscle and mind
to meet
the open horizon
its fresher winds
the brighter light
undreamed of in the chrysalis:
each cloud a carriage
each breeze a wing
each star a stepping stone
beyond Time
-before and after-
toward the secret
of its source
and mine.

11.
There are no boundaries
Out There
but the original laws
that devised
creation.
neither north nor south
or east and west,
above
below
or here and there
No tides,
but streams of power forever flowing.
Time is not negotiated
wasted or lost:
an hour rates high in our accounting here:
yet a thousand years
could be held as a breath on the wind
Out There.

111.
There is no waste in God’s economy.
New solar systems
gather grace in space
[along with waste
from our allotted span of influence].
In God’s eternal meld
of warp and woof,
of foul and fair,
we have each one of us a share
in a new heaven and a new earth
aiming for birth
Out There
somewhere.


http://twitpic.com/photos/brimblecombe

Garden of Eden

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

For a while now, I have been wanting to visually delve into the story of Adam and Eve, a story shared by the three Abrahamaic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It will not come as a surprise to regular readers of my BLOG that the tree of life and the tree of knowledge are pivotal symbols which have drawn me to the epic tale and all that it might mean. Apart from the details of the story, what intrigues me most are concepts of the sacred feminine, duality and 'The Fall'. The latter may not be a fall from Grace , but a fall to Grace [via a journey through life or maybe lives]. For to know who we are, we also need to know who we are not, hence we need to 'know' good and 'error'. I have previously written about duality on this BLOG
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-wednesday-18-march-at-6-pm-i-am-co.html

In the painting above Adam and Eve are crowned by the flowing branches of the tree of life representing eternal [divine] life and the tree of knowledge representing the knowledge of good and evil [I prefer error instead of evil]. These trees meet to create a Yoni symbol representing the sacred feminine. Reclaiming the sacredness and equality of the feminine is an age old quest which still persists today in many aspects of contemporary life, culture and religion. The sacred feminine does not exclude the masculine, but encompasses that feminine aspect of the masculine. The masculine can emotionally, physically and spiritually share in the experience. He is reminded of it in mortal life when he physically is one with a woman. The Yoni suggests that the Garden of Eden is to be found within and is not just meant to be some kind of external environment which is subject to the vagaries of mere human care and or manipulation.

In the story Eve is created from Adam's rib. "She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him." [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary] Eve eternally shares a part of Adam just as Adam also experiences the feminine. The absent part of his rib represents Eve's presence within. Absentia does not mean lack of inclusion. With these thoughts in mind culpability for the Temptation ascribed soley to Eve seems rather lame or perhaps opportunistic.

What also interests me is the conduit to the internal unseen parts of our psyche and spirit this story gifts to us. The imagined [by God] comes to life in Creation. How many unseen elements of our lives need to be explored? This is the potency of all art ie: its ability to bring some kind of perception to the imagined. The distance between what we call reality and the imagined is vast going beyond size, space or time. By this I mean that there can be a vastness within the nano as well as the universal.

I am not a biblical student, but I am intensly interested in stories which gift to us the chance for metaphysical interpretations and thus great insight. I am also interested in stories which are shared by those religions which in many parts of the world sit uncomfortably and often dangerously with each other. A previous post about a painting called 'Forever Connected' discusses this further. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/forever-connected.html

The Garden Of Eden Oil on linen 50 x 95 cm 2009

ELEMENTAL

Elemental Oil on linen 50 x 95 cm 2009

In this new painting above I have tried to capture the essences of earth, air and water. I have used my much loved tree-of-life to suggest a vascular energy within what appears to be an ambiguous landscape. The vibrant red 'clouds' spill red and blue 'rain', both woven into the fabric of the 'sky' in a startling pattern. I like the idea of a sky revealing its elemental energy normally unseen by the naked human eye of eye ball and pupil. My mind's eye always 'sees' the normally unseen. To wonder is the spark which ignites the imagination. Maybe viewers who look at my work will wonder and come up with their own mind's eye 'sights'? As I have written before on this BLOG I do not believe I complete my paintings, because I know every conversation a painting stumulates, whether with others or with oneself, provides a completion. Hence there is the possibility of multiple completions.

In a way I have to distance myself from my work ...and I am comfortable with this. I also believe that by distancing myself from 'owning' a completion, I just might save my work from the perils of didacticism. One of these perils is the blinding of the mind's eye and thus the death of wonder. I have previously writen about wonder @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-couple-of-weeks-not-painting-i-am.html

I chose red for the clouds and the strips of 'rain' to indicate a potency, not just in the obvious benefits of rain and water to the Earth and its inhabitants, but also in the rich metaphor water provides for us. This is where my interest in the vast/intimate-global/local-macro/micro enters the painting. Water has an ability to exist in a vast mass, but also to be reduced to droplets, mist, steam. It can seep into intimate spaces where space does not seem to obviously exist. It flows and its 'currency' is a metaphor for concepts of movement and progression, but also value in all of its conotations. I believe fluidity is an important aspect of perspective in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally.

I have written about the many meanings of 'currency' before on this BLOG @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/currency.html and http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/06/currency-of-water.html

I'd like to direct readers to a few interesting Blogs or websites I have discovered recently

http://www.mandyridley.com/ http://www.spillspace.com/ http://www.ducksmahal.com/ http://www.moneyplusthoughts.blogspot.com/

Cheers, Kathryn

JIGSAW

                                                 Love Puzzle Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

                                                        Jigsaw Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2003

TWO PAINTINGS FROM 2003

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

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

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


Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ONE

                              One oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2009
This is the painting I have been working on for the last couple of months and now it is ready for the conversations which will provide its [possible] multiple completions. I have decided to call the painting 'One'. I wanted to create a work which simultaneously captured vastness and intimacy through revealed patterns. I have used the tree-of-life motife to create a 'map' which illustrates connectivity within difference ie: the connectivity being fundamental similarities which underly life [which includes death].

An article in The Guardian newspaper entitled 'Can Artists Save The World', by Paul Arendt struck me as timely. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/05/can-artists-save-the-world The article discusses the plethora of art, in the broadest sense, which deals with 'issues' such as the environment and climate change. He says, 'Artists' attempts tend to fall into two categories. There is the celebratory work reminding us how nice nature is; and there is the dystopian approach, which paints a stark picture of humanity's future.'


I have thought about this question of 'issue' driven art for awhile. Readers of my BLOG would recognise that at one level I am a quiet activist, but I am very careful to steer well clear of the didacticism I perceive in a lot of contemporary culture. For example I do not see the point in recreating or reminding people of disaster when the popular media does such a great job at it. Some contemporary art is trapped in an unwitting complicity with the popular media which stalls art's potential potency to penetrate the psyche at deep levels. Some of this 'dystopian' imagery falls prey to 'black' decor desires, and thus propels itself to what is considered the unforgivable fate of the 'pretty picture' ie: decoration!

I have written on this BLOG before about my thoughts on 'positive or celebratory' art. All may not be as it seems! Modern aptitudes in deciphering symbols, meaning and context are scarily limited especially as visual literacy skills are determined or honed by mass media and didacticism [especially in a lot of children's literature]. I am aware that there is a 'pretty picture' element in the artworld. However, I choose to paint what could be called utopian images, but with a conscious acknowledgement that disaster, pain, suffering exist or are all immanent. By consciously eliding the negative, it exists in absentia in my work.

'Reminding us how nice nature is...' is not my goal. Simple 'reminder' is not effective or potent because it does not necessarily cause change either within or without. I hope my work engenders, through the conversations it stimulates with oneself or others, a potential for discovery of something new. As readers of my BLOG are aware, I am intensely interested in perspective especially as a metaphor for how we view ourselves and others. The possibility of finding new perspectives and/or experiencing multiple perspectives simultaneously are far more exciting... and scarey than simple 'reminder'. Living locally in an increasingly globalised world is also exciting and scarey....but heightened perspectival abilities will make the dance of distance between the global and local far more fun and productive.

Can artists save the world? No artists alone cannot save the world, but maybe art's agency can contribute to the collective endeavour through stimulating the kind of wonder and imagination that uncovers new ways of doing things. Where does 'reminder' of good or bad fit here?

Now to my MUM, Elsie Brimblecombe who is having a solo exhibition called 'Invisible Cities' inspired by Italo Calvino's book by the same name. The exhibition will be at the Upfront Club, 31 Maple St, Maleny, Queensland, Australia opening August 27 @ 6 pm. The exhibition will continue until September 22. http://www.upfrontclub.org/

Below is one of my Mum's paintings The City of Euphemia. It is acrylic on canvas and about 60 x 40 cm.

NEW HISTORY

Shared Destinies Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

Detail of yet un-named oil on linen painting 90 x 200 cm

In today's Weekend Australian newspaper there is an article [page 4] ' Author Puts New Slant On Culture' by Rosemary Sorenson about a new book called The Lamb Enters The Dreaming by La Trobe University research fellow Robert Kenny. I will be very interested to read this book, because if it is as described in the article, it departs from the 'tired debate' surrounding the 'history wars' where strongly held 'right or left wing perspectives' breath almost inpenetratable distance into difference. University of Queensland Professor of Australian Studies and Cultural History, David Carter is quoted with a comment about the book which I found very exciting. After suggesting that if there can be acceptance of a notion that white and Aboriginal history is not all about 'exploitation' then this history is leading, "...towards a history of entwinement and entaglement."

'Entwinement and entaglement' surely mean something is shared. As I read these two words I thought of a particular painting I completed in 2006 called 'Shared Destinies'. When I painted this image I was thinking about how so many different cultures share history and thus also share destinies. If we share destinies there is an imperative to be compassionate towards each other, otherwise the journey together can be less than pleasant, as history amply illustrates. Readers of my BLOG will know that I have a couple of paintings with shared history-type titles.

The painting above called 'Shared Destinies' has two tree-of-life motifs which seem to to wrap each other. Their limbs and twigs extend beyond the painting to show a future and a past. They exist in a universe representing time which of course is also shared through concurrency. After all, time is not literally devisible and indeed may not really exist!

The second image is a detail of a just completed painting. I have written about this work on the BLOG before when I started it a couple, if not a few months ago. And now it is finally completed...or at least I have done my bit. Readers of this BLOG would know that I do not believe I actually complete my work. Each conversation, whether with oneself or with others, completes my work. Thus there is the potential for multiple completions.

I have yet to give this 90 x 200 cm painting a title. I know what I want to encapsulate, but have not come up with the right words yet. The reason I have only a detail is that my camera cannot take images of large work, so I now have to wait until it is dry before I can take it to a photographer.

But, getting back to the theme of this post...this latest painting is a continuation of my interest in embracing similarity rather than just difference. From a vast distance of space or time many differences are not noticeable often giving light to similarity if not sameness. A human body seen from a great distance is not discernible with regards to sex, colour, culture etc, yet the basic identifying body parts and shape we all share in common identify it as a human.

This new painting has a wave like appearance of colour. Whilst there are different colours there is a fluidity which I think portrays an 'entwinement and entaglement' suggesting a human-race shared history and future=destiny.

I believe compassion is a key to examining history with a different perspective. I will be interested to read Robert Kenny's book to see if a compassionate quality exists between and in his words. I believe, Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Australian Aborigines has opened the doors for compassion to be mutually given and felt. Sympathy, as I have said before on this BLOG, can emotionally colonise both the giver and the receiver giving rise to hierarchies which can become dangerously entrenched, thus stagnating life circumstances and history.

When I get the photo of the painting I will upload it to this BLOG.

And this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert is brilliant...and absolute must. http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

FRIENDS

Living With Distance Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2002

Where Are We? Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002

Over the last month I have had wonderful opportunities to catch up with friends from the past. One gathering was with three friends from High School . We have not been together since 1975. Another gathering was this week with three friends from Goondiwindi where I lived when I was married [now nearly ten years ago].

Needless to say in each case there was a lot of catching up. But at both gatherings people commented on the fact that even though we do not keep in contact via email, Facebook, Twitter or other online or virtual connection, our conversations fell into a comfortableness that time has not eroded. My friends from High School commented that even though it had been over 30 years since we had been together, we talked about and told each other things which we may not even tell new friends. This was because sometimes the history explaining our reactions, beliefs, upbringing is too complex or time consuming to tell. As old friends we were each a part of the others' histories thus rendering explanations about reactions to events and happenings as unnecessary. This kind of friendship is very special, because time and frequency of contact do not influence the links.

So, inevitibly, at both gatherings we touched upon the high frequency of contact via Facebook, Twitter, Texting etc, people [esp young people] seemed to be hooked on. In one discussion we agreed that the busy frenzy of always being contactable is exhausting. We did not come up with any solutions, except to agree that as very busy women uninterrrupted time alone is like gold.

There is a lot to write about with regards to constant connection. But, I will depart from this subject a little to reference my recent experiences in terms of my interest in perspective. I have noticed that as I get older conversations with friends can become far more inimate in terms of life story telling. This is probably because as a person ages the years are filled with more and more experiences which cause reflection, changes in attitude, shock, happiness, sadness and so on. Looking back over life the perspective of time can enrich conversations, erode prejudices, awaken confidence, engender humour and peel away useless beliefs and attitiudes. All of these then change the perspective potential of the future

The two paintings above are older works both painted in 2002. Living With Distance is a bride seemingly floating above the Earth with her long veil wrapping the Earth's curvature. The title explains the physical distance of the bride, who is actually a country bride who has a life lving in remote rural Australia as her future. The title also suggests that emotional distance can corrupt the quality of a relationship, so that one or both partners feel adrift.

Where Are We? plays with multiple horizons, in this case there are two. The mountains are metaphors for overcoming adversity, so in each horizon there exists the potential of the past and the future.

PS. Have a look at http://www.joshualevigalleries.com.au/ and keep looking at this site. Looks like I will be exhibiting there in March next year!!!

CYCLICAL

That's Life Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm 2006




Everything Is Cyclical Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2009



Recently something spun into my head about the actual form of perspective as a metaphor for how we view ourselves and others. A predominantly western view would be that it has a linear appearance and action. Yet, the world is not linear even if our thoughts have been trained that way.


I am toying with my thoughts on a spherical but not necessarily static type of image of the action and appearance of perspective. When we think of horizons we tend to think of them in our line of sight, yet thay exist all around us even when we cannot see them...except of course with our mind's eye or imagnation. And, it is with these capacities that we can also 'see' beyond the horizons. As readers of my BLOG know I love playing with perspective in my work, asking the viewer to question space and distance, both as literal experiences as well as metaphorical ones.


I have written about the contemporary stage as being one which exists between the 'wings' of the global and local, yet this suggests a more linear experience which does not fully encapsulate how I imagine perspective in this globalised world in which we live locally. But, I had a 'Ah Ha' moment when I imagined a theatre in the round with the 'wings' existing at any and all points. These 'wings' can move in and out at will or at random [or seemingly so]. This stage at its most micro level would exit within us as we contemplate and reflect upon experiences whether they be in the physical world or other. As we develop skills in perspective I believe our horizons are pushed further, whether they be at vast distances or close ones. And, as these horizons move we become less fearful of what might be beyond the horizons.


In my last BLOG I quoted JK Rowling from her 2008 Harvard Alumni Association presentation entitled The Fringe Benefits of Failure And The Importance of Imagination http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination . The quote is, ' The willingly unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.’

I really like this quote. Without imagination or tapping into our mind's eye our horizons contract and can swallow us with fear.

The two paintings above are about circles, cycles and spheres. In 'That's Life' the tree-of-life splays out with positive and negative circle shapes above and below it. These circles could be seen as perspective turned inside out. They could also represent the 'contemporary stage' in its most fulsome presence ie: multi dimensional. "Everything Is Cyclical' is a newer work essentially dealing with water, yet a drop of water has a form like I imagine our contemporary stage to be. It moves, it can collide with other drops or separate itself, it can penetrate, it can soften and enmass it is awesome.

SEEPING INTO THE INTIMATE VASTNESS

Seeping Into The Intimate Vastness Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2008


On Wednesday of this week I made a presentation at the annual King's College Foundation business breakfast . King's is a men's residential college at the University of Queensland. http://www.kings.uq.edu.au/ I was able to choose my topic which was 'Perspective: In a Global World In Which We Live Locally'. I spoke about art's agency as catalyst for experiencing perspective or multi perspectives. I suggested that this is achieved by inviting the viewer to literally move back and forth [replicating the moves an artist makes], but also to stimulate conversation whether it be with others or internally with oneself. Conversation is a 'movement' back and forth as participants 'see' and hear another person's point of view, perspective or story.

I suggested that in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally, it is imperative that we all appreciate the vast scope perspectival dexterity has in helping us negotiate this contemporary life. With this kind of dexterity comes compassion for ourselves and others.



Space and Time Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2001

The elments needed to develop perspectival dexterity are things like imagination, judgment, confidence, open mindedness, empathy. Yet, the one element I see as the most pivotal is imagination, because it is imagination which allows us to put ourselves in another person's shoes.
I quoted JK Rowling from her speech The Fringe Benefits of Failure And The Importance Of Imagination made in 2008 for the Harvard Alumni Association, ' ‘Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.’

In the same speech KJ Rowling also said, ' The willingly unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.’ I used this to augment the imperative we have to grasp skills which allow us all to live freely, fulfilled and compassionately in an increasingly global world in which we individually live locally. I suggested that those who cannot imagine how to embrace the contemporary 'stage' which exists between the 'wings' of the local and global are destined to see more monsters because fear grips them. One only has to think of the regimes [amongst others] in North Korea and Zimbabwe where unhealthy self interest and conscious ignorance of the world outside have created the kind of monstrous events and fears that have been and are indeed hard to imagine.

I have uploaded the two images above, one painted in 2001 and the other in 2008 because they are both about water. In my presentation at King's College I used my series on water [previously written about on this blog] to illustrate a couple of things. One was that water and its use are local and global issues and easily understood as such. The other is that water has the capability of being a vast mass yet also a drop, thus providing a living example of fluid connection between the micro/local and macro/global . Water can seep into the smallest and most intimate of spaces, but a deluge has a tipping point where is can become a saviour or a disaster. With all of this in mind our bodies are also %70 water.

Seeping Into The Intimate Vastness is an ambiguous 'landscape'. The tree-of-life seems to embrace or wrap the 'scene' with its vein like red branches. Its vascular-like appearance is 'Life' and indeed water systems, whether natural or manmade, are life giving. There is a general feeling of wetness and water about this painting. In the flesh it also has an almost 3d appearance as if things are swollen or sodden.

Space and Time painted in 2001 reveals an earlier interest in water. Sheets of red 'rain' fall from the sky on the edges of multiple horizons. I lived for many years in western Queensland where rain would tantalisingly appear at the edge of sight. This was particularly evident when driving west along lonely highways with the distance colliding with me and my car, but never reached.

WATER HARVESTING

The gouache on paper above is from my ongoing exploration of 'water'. It is called 'Water Harvesting' taking from the actual term 'water harvesting', which means irrigators collecting [or harvesting] by pumping water from a river or water system once the height of the water has reached a certain limit.


Like many of my paintings this image is ambigious. Is it a landscape of sky, midground and foreground? Is it a cross section? Is it an earial view of a river and surrounding land? This image is very like my previous post 'Currency Of Water' on June 1 this year. It poses similar questions about the tension between the natural flow of water and humankind's need to syphon from its flow. The tension is not only environmental but also financial. Wealth created by abundant supplies of water, its allocation, its storage, its industrial and agricultural uses is immense.

I have painted the top section with the word 'rain' and the bottom section with '$' signs. The mid section or 'river' has circles of words which represent dams, damming or water storages. These circles also represent the cycles of nature, but also play on the stock market term describing commodities as cyclical.

This image also 'speaks' about my interest in perspective. The ambiguity created by the possibility of multiple and simultaneous perspectives embraces all the many and various viewpoints stakeholders have about water and its usage. Water is a local and a global issue. And water itself can seep into the most intimate spaces as well as being a vast mass.

Water Harvesting gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

TRUTH

The work on paper above is called 'Truth' and it part of my series on water which I have previously written about on this BLOG. It is an image of the Aral Sea, a saline lake located in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, both previously part of the former Soviet Union. In 1960 the Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake, the size of Southern California. The blue mass on the left is the Aral Sea in 1989, the divided mass on the right is the sea in 2003.

In the past few decades there have been drastic changes brought about by agricultural and industrial activities. The Aral Sea's volume has deceased by 75% with its surface area by 50 percent. The shoreline has receeded up to 120 km from its former shore.

I have written text copied from Wikepedia which is 'the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.' The text comes from the entry on the Aral Sea. I have called the painting 'Truth' to comment on the veracity of information provided by internet sources such as Wikepedia and the increasing use of it as a source of information. The entry on the Aral Sea reads authoratively, but with so much information available today on the internet, how do we really know? The entry on the Aral Sea has changed since I painted this image earlier this year, which is in keeping with the Wikepedia philosophy.

Yet, satelite photographs of the Aral Sea reveal the truth that it has drastically diminished over a relatively short time. I found other photographs as well as those on Wikepedia. These amazing photographs, taken from a vast distance, hit you in the stomach with the visual information they provide. Written information about details does not have quite the same impact. However, the two together provide an imperative to do something about the situation.

This painting again deals with my interest in the macro and micro, global and local and our need to develop flexible perspective of ourselves and others. How can we move back and forth from a macro perspective to a micro perspective when we live locally in an increasingly globalised world? Indeed, is it possible to have both close and far perspectives simultaneously? How can we ensure healthy self interest [ie: local] benefits the whole world?


Truth Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2009

CURRENCY OF WATER

This work on paper is a new painting 57 x 114 cm unframed. It is a continuation of my interest in water which I have previously written about on my BLOG. Text in the image is the word 'rain' and $ signs. I wanted to create a tension between the manmade and the natural. The manmade being the exchange of money for the use of water and the natural being that which falls out of the sky at the will of...who knows! It is out of our control whether it rains or not. Yet, the control of water is a major issue for contemporary society.

I wanted to create a feeling of tension also because rivers want to flow towards the sea yet along the way the water is pumped, harvested and dammed. Whilst the natural flow is one way man pulls the water in other ways. Hence the river like shape across the middle of the image and the text pulling it away from its flow. Yet, the painting could be a landscape of ground, mountains and sky with rain falling from black clouds.

Readers of my BLOG know that I like to play with ambiguous landscape. Yet, my work is not about landscape... it is about perception, perspective and distance. As a child I 'knew' I could fly. I knew what my parent's farm looked like from above even though I had not flown in a plane above it. I still remember the feelings I had when I 'flew'. The 'experience' I had as a child has influenced my work yet it is only in the last few years that I have realised my work is not about landscape but about deeper perspectives. I think this realisation has happened because I now have the benefit of the perspective of a reasonably long past which I can reflect upon, pull apart and 'see' things I could not see when I was younger.


Cheers,
Kathryn

PS. If you click on the image it will be large on your screen and then you can see the text a bit better.

ONE

A few posts ago I said I was starting a large work which I wanted to appear like a wave of colour or a map of colour where boundaries fused. Well...the painting is nearly finished. The image above is me working on some of the last bits! My arm gets very tired!

My idea was to use my tree-of-life motif pouring it over the canvas with a multitude of colours creating from a distance a vision of a wave...yet up close the viewer sees where colours begin and end. I played with the idea of how a map when viewed up close will clearly show where boundaries exist yet when seen from a distance the boundaries are indiscernible. Thus, reminding us that the Earth is one planet with manmade markings meaning nothing when viewed with a distant perspective. As readers of this BLOG know I am very interested in both literal and metaphoric perspective with the latter holding clues to how we might negotiate a globalised world in which we live locally.

I was thinking about the colour which is released from white light hitting a prism. Ultimately all colours emanate from the one source. Humanity and life are like the colours released by a prism...ultimately we are one. We all share the common signs of life ie: breath and pulse. Plus we share the urge for identity which ultimately manifests in the creation of culture and religion, which unfortunately often lead to conflict. Yet, the primal urge for identity is the same.

I believe deep thought about perspective will reveal new pathways for peace on Earth and compassionate negotiation [of oursleves and others] of the distance between the global and local.

I am calling the painting 'One'.

One Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2009

NOSTALGIA

I was going through my photos and found a few of interest. The top one was taken in 1965 at the Dalby Kindergarten. I loved painting at kindy...although I don't look that happy in the photo!

The second photo was taken in 1993 in Goondiwindi [4.5 hrs drive west of Brisbane] in my old shearer's quarters studio. The cute little child is my eldest daughter who is now quite grown up. This photo was taken just before I had an exhibition in Maleny. You can see the tree-of-life was a major influence even then. Readers of my BLOG know I still love this motif.

When I had small children I would go straight to my studio to work as soon as they had their morning or afternoon sleeps. I had a baby monitor attached to me so that I knew when they awakened and needed me. Mothers become very adept at discerning 'I want you now!' screams or just playful whimpers or 'Mum I am bored' grizzles!

This photo was taken in 1977 when I won first prize in the senior section of Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Art Award for children. Part of the prize was meeting the Queen at Government House in Brisbane. My whole family travelled to Brisbane for the event and I was taken out of boarding school for two days! The Queen had chosen the theme of the art award. This theme was The Family and my painting is the one slightly obscured by the Queen's head. I painted my family! Unfortunately of the 3 photos taken of me at the event this is the only one of me with Queen Elizabeth...and we can only see her back. This was well before people could take a thousand digital images. I am just over 180 cm tall and the 'teenager me' insisted on wearing high heels. Of course on the day I realised my mistake and I felt like an amazonian standing beside and talking with Her Majesty.

This photo was taken in 1981 when I worked as a curatorial assistant at the National Gallery in Canberra. I am standing beside a Monet Waterlily painting. I got the job in Canberra straight out of university.

Painting and art have been part of my life since forever. Over this time I have come to believe that art's agency [rather than purpose] is to give to those who are keen and open to receive. Art can be reflective and/or affective. As I have said before on my BLOG I believe my paintings are finished not by me but by viewers and the conversations they have either with others or...inside their heads.

Cheers,

Kathryn

FOREVER CONNECTED

The above painting is called 'Forever Connected'. My universal trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life becomes the burning bush in the story of Moses. This story is shared by the three Abrahamaic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Across time people are connected by shared stories, just as the non-consuming fire represents an eternal connection of life to God, the Divine, Creation. Through shared stories we are also eternally connected.

After exhibiting in the Middle East and sharing conversations with people from all over the region I am interested in those things which remind us of similarity rather than difference. I am sure that the distance between people can be negotiated more compassionately through finding similarites rather than just focusing on differences.

The human urge for identity propels us to create different cultures and religions, yet the urge is fundamental and shared. Embracing the fundamental similarities between people means the differences can be rejoiced rather than cloaked with the word ‘tolerance’. To me this word is not a compassionate word. It suggests one has to try very hard to 'tolerate' and it evokes a sense of heirachy ie: the tolerator and the tolerated. I have written about compassion previously on my BLOG http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/08/compassion.html


Forever Connected Oil on linen 120 x 80 cm 2008

ANGELS' WINGS

I am very excited because I am one of the 30 finalists in the third LAUNCH: Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship Award which will be announced in early June. The award is co-ordinated by http://www.positive-solutions.com.au/

This means I am now waiting for the outcomes of three awards I have been selected for ie: The Prometheus and the Moreton Bay Art Awards as well.

Now to the image above. The trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life represents space, time and matter, Heaven and Earth. It intrigues me that system-like processes, seen and unseen, felt and not felt can connect the unconscious and conscious, the human and the spiritual. The exploration of these systems suggests the presence of other forces tantalizingly playing with the distance or space between closeness and farness questioning the existence of opposites and antimonies with the suggestion that these connections give rise to variations rather than separate entities or concepts.

So, as we negotiate contemporary life in the spaces between the macro and micro, global and local, vast and intimate we know that our potential exists within the chaos. Optimism is knowing that life's complexity and its chaotic presentation actually create the forces of survival.

To me the seeming chaos is like the flutter of angels' wings creating energy and thus potential. The trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life, its visceral branches, its constant movement in the air epitomises the essence of chaos's promise.

The Brush Of Angels' Wings oil on linen 53 x 97 cm, 2008

LIFEBLOOD

Click on the painting and you will see $ signs! In a previous post 'Currency' I have written about my interest in the uses of this word with regards to money and water. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/currency.html

I have called this painting 'Lifeblood' because water is the Earth's 'blood'. Rivers, oceans, streams, underground aquafers, rain, melting ice are all parts of the visceral and vascular system which assists in keeping our planet and us alive. Yet, water has become a commodity to be bought and sold, borrowed, harvested, allocated and litigated about. There is a monetry value to water and its flow which, if monitored appropriately, will ensure appropriate use of water for all people. However, can we be sure that this will happen?

So...in this painting I have created a vein of red $ signs in the sky. From this vein rain falls in two strips. This rain is also painted with $ signs. I have painted the rain in strips because when I lived in western Queensland I was always intrigued by the appearance of rain in the distance. Driving west from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi I often witnessed strips of rain on the far horizon and hoped the rain was falling on Goondiwindi! This kind of hope is deeply felt by country people.

I have also painted the dammed and underground water and the surrounding soil in $ signs. This is commenting on the 'value', use and diminishment of underground water. The depletion of underground aquafers causes salination and thus the loss of soil richness, subsequently causing land degradation and loss of income as well as sustainability.

Whilst this painting comments on water and its 'value' it also contibutes to my interest in perspective. Like many of my recent paintings this painting, when viewed from a distance, does not reveal its details. It looks like some sort of ambiguous but vast landscape. However, up close
the viewer can see the details of the $ signs and starts to question the 'big picture'. In a way the movement back and forth to view the painting [mirroring how an artist works] is a metaphor for contemporary life living locally in an increasingly globalised world.

I have previously uploaded this painting, but since then I have worked on it a bit more.

Lifeblood Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2008/09.

artHIVES update: Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox up for awards

artHIVES update: Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox up for awards

ANSWERS

I have been very busy lately. Apart from feeling like a yo yo Mother I have been exploring the possibilities of widgets, Twitter and other online distractions. I have loaded a Widget called FEEDJIT onto my BLOG and it detects visitors to my BLOG. I have revamped my TWITTER http://twitter.com/brimblecombe with a background of one of my paintings. I am also on FACEBOOK which embarrasses my children as I am too 'old' for these sorts of things. Well, apparently we 'oldies' have taken over FACEBOOK as well as the TWILIGHT series of books. If you have not heard of this series...well ask any 11 year old girl and she will tell you about them! Actually ask any woman on the street and she will also be able to tell you ...probably!

But, I have also been painting. I am working on the large oil which I talked about in my BLOG post 'SOAKED'. The painting is progressing and I am completely absorbed with it when I am with it! Hours pass by and I am looking forward to, but also anxious about, seeing it finished. Painting is also an bit of a yo yo experience. One minute everything is going well....the paint glides off the brush, my arm stays steady, the colours meld well and then...all of a sudden....I realise I've put too many lines, or I've been thinking without looking, or the paint does not behave as I would like it, or I get up to move away from the painting to see it from a distance and I realise it is not quite right. The process is a constant movement from contentment to...sometimes the extreme of hopelessness.

Yet, I love it. The positive and negative aspects of creating a painting stimulate a movement which feels right to me. The problem solving stretches from practical issues to conceptual concerns. On the one hand the paint might not have the right consistency, but when I look at the painting does is actually 'say' what I want it to? Both the practical and conceptual fuel each other.

I know I must love what I do because when I have a problem it does not get me down. I don't become stressed in a way which makes me wake in the middle of the night to ruminate and catastrophise. In a way I enjoy the problems as they stretch my intellect and imagination. I remember my Mother telling me something a doctor once told her. That is, if a job or activity causes the kind of stress which leads to sleepless nights then it is unhealthy. But, if a job or activity causes the kind of stress which fuels your energy at all levels then it is a healthy place to be. It has taken me awhile to sort out what jobs and activities are really suited to me, as sometimes parts of a job or activity do satisfy, but how one copes with problems is the litmus test I think.

The gouache on paper painting above is called 'Answer To A Prayer'. it is from my "Water" series. But like most of my work it says a lot more than its obvious intention which is about being grateful for rain.