DAMNED

Rain Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

It is raining again here in Brisbane, just after major floods! I certainly hope we don't get a wet winter, then followed by a wet summer just like the one we've just had. The soil needs time to dry out a bit. Floods are not something we want to experience so soon! The painting above is called Rain. I am actually very happy with this work as it almost exudes wetness. Indeed, it involved a lot of water splashed, sprayed and dribbled, plus some small brush markings.

'Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization' by Steven Solomon

Despite many areas of Australia being currently replete with water...water is still a major issue here and around the world. I have just finished an amazing book called 'Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization' by Steven Solomon [Harper Collins, NY, 2010]. It is a meticulously researched world history of water from it earliest uses for irrigation in the ancient world, to our present day looming crisis. The latter is coupled with threats to food supply, as well our thirst for energy and climate change.  As Solomon says, The lesson of history is that in the tumultuous adjustment that surely lies ahead, those societies that find the most innovative responses to the crisis are most likely to come out as winners, while others fall behind. Civilization will be shaped as well by water's inextricable, deep dependencies with energy, food and climate change. 

The last paragraph of the book offers a profound call for people to take water very seriously, At the end of the day, how each member of the world community ultimately acts in response to the global freshwater crisis is not just a matter of economic and political history, but a judgement on our own humanity-and the ultimate fate of human civilization. As one scientist succinctly puts it: "After all, we are water."

Mining vs Farming

In my own neck of the woods ie: South East Queensland, Australia we are seeing major potential threats to water, plus food supply and quality, with the burgeoning battle between mining and farming. Regular readers will know of my concerns for water quality, supply and the accompanying potential degradation of prime food producing farmlands on the Darling Downs and in the Bowen and Surat Basins. The increasing presence of open cut coal mining, plus the frenzied activity surrounding coal seam gas extraction, pose threats to above and below ground water quality and supply. These mining activites also threaten soils, efficient farming practices, community health and social fabric. Ultimately the threats will not be localised concerns, as food supply, costs and quality will affect everyone.

Water management can make or break a civilization

The one overarching message I received as a result of reading 'Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization'  was that history has shown us that water management can make or break a civilization. This is followed and linked closely by food supply, which includes a plethora of issues from how food is grown, quality, cost and distribution. I am currently reading 'The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis And What We Can Do To Avoid It' by Julian Cribb [CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood Victoria, 2010]. This is a great book to read just after Solomon's 'Water', because the linkages between water and  food with economic, cultural and social health, and thus political stability are clearly apparent.

As a history student [I studied Ancient History and Art History at University], plus  a reader of history books, I have learnt that history is the last and most critical judge. So, politically it may seem expedient to fill government coffers, depleted by the GFC, with the money gained from mining exploration and export, but if it ultimately means we have no, or vastly depleted, food producing capacity plus poor water quality and supply, the resultant human loss and civil unrest, will make the expediency seem inhumane and politically naive...plus potentially worse. As Soloman wrote but a judgement on our own humanity.
 
Damned
Damned [below] says it all really don't you think!? Click on the image and you'll see I have created the dam with the repeated word 'damned'. Surely there is a way for mining and farming to co-exist? I am not anti mining per se, but a balanced and more scientific approach to analysis and risk needs to be undertaken.

Damned Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm

More of my posts about water, food etc.

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/02/commodified.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/knowledge-and-cooking.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/oils-aint-oilsany-more.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/food-fantasy-in-future.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/underground-currency.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/murray-darling-currency.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-gallery.html

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

3D

Colour of Stillness Oil on linen 100 x 60 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/knowledge-of-stillness.html

 

At my exhibition 'Frisson', last year, a visitor commented to me that he thought my paintings would look great through 3D glasses. He went away and came back with a pair....and it was amazing! Many of my paintings immediately separated into layers and I felt like I could reach into them, past the surface. This year, for my recent exhibition 'VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At its Core', I had thought about getting some 3D glasses to see if my new paintings also separated beyond the 2D world. But, the Brisbane floods, and the resulting mayhem, just prior to my exhibition opening, meant I did not think about searching Brisbane for 3 D glasses. However...the same man turned up again. We had a long chat and he commented that he thought the new paintings would look great through 3D glasses too. This time he popped out to his car and came back with a pair of 3D glasses which he gave to me.

Many of my paintings in 'VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At its Core' revealed their 3D qualities. Other visitors, who tried the glasses, were really astonished and loved walking around the exhibition taking the glasses on and off. Their exclamations of wonder were very audible.

I have found a place where I can buy some 3D glasses, thanks to another visitor who emailed me with the details. I think I'll have some at my next exhibition 'Paradise' @ Purgatory Artspace in Melbourne. This exhibition will be from 8 Sept - 8 Oct...and I am really looking forward to it.

 

Remembering The reason Why Oil on linen 100 x 60 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/remembering-reason-why.html

The 3D quality in my work is unintentional and I will continue to paint without thinking about what a painting might look like through 3 D glasses. However, with contemporary interest in 3D movies, video games and tvs I am really quite tickled about the multi dimensionality of my work. And...It certainly fits in with my thoughts on perspective and distance, particularly the need to be able to see multi perspectives simultaneously. I believe this is an important ability to stimulate in an increasingly globalised world in which we live locally. It is also important as cosmology propels us into multiversal potentialities at the same time as we recognise that our inner psyches are endless. The exploration of the vast and nano both reveal the infinitude of distance.

So...if you have a pair of 3D glasses, go get them and put them on. The paintings I have uploaded look great with them on! The images are only 72 dpi, but you will still get an idea of how they separate into layers. I have chosen 4 paintings, but there are a number of others that take on a multidimensional appearance. Hovering At The Centre is particularly 3D! Just click on the image and it will upload onto another page for easier viewing.

 

                                      

                        

Hovering At The Centre Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/hovering.html

 

'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] Oil on linen 80  x 120 cm
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/09/adam-and-eveleft-and-right-brain.html



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

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

Other Universes Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm

At my artist's talk in discussion with Dr. Christine Dauber on March 26 she asked me a question about landscape. She basically asked if I identified myself as a landscape painter. This is an interesting one for me, because for many years I would have described myself as such. However, whilst I still paint what could be called landscapes, I don't think the term 'landscape painter', or describing my painting as 'landscape', is fulsome enough. I've pondered this for some time now, even prior to Dr. Dauber bringing the topic to the fore. When I answered her question I basically said 'yes and no'! I ventured to suggest that whilst my feet are planted on the ground my head is actually in the clouds, so I 'see' the external and internal world in and from multiple perspectives.

I have said 'external' and 'internal' because the way I 'see' is both an outward observation with my eye, of eye ball and pupil, as well as an inward one with my mind's 'eye'. The latter is, I suppose, what I 'see' in and with my imagination. Both observations involve another level, which is my emotional response which can quicken or ignite excitement, further wonder, intellectual stimulation, revelation.

Someone, and I cannot remember who, described my paintings as 'spiritual landscapes'. This is probably getting close to the mark, but I still have a niggling problem with the word landscape and what it means to most people ie: an image of or inspired by the literal physical landscape of our external environment. I have had a thought...maybe this meaning of landscape tethers us to a line of sight perspective, with its contingent uni dimensionality, that ultimately blinds us to other dimensions. Are we, in fact, attached to a diminished idea of landscape which affects how we view our world and beyond? If we are, its not a helpful way of 'seeing' as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world.

Recent natural disasters remind us that our landscape can change dramatically and dreadfully, not just cyclically with seasons etc. Change is inherent within the external landscape and tethering ourselves to a vision of constancy in one dimension, I propose, makes it much harder to cope with catastrophe, as well as blinding us to new ways of 'seeing'. The latter probably impacts on how we live in and treat our environment.

The Beginning Of Everything Oil On Linen 90 x 180 cm

If everything in this universe is the result of a BIG BANG, then everything is the BIG BANG'S dust. If everything [and this includes us!] is dust from a common source, then everything is 'landscape'. I ponder upon this and think about how I am inspired...not just what inspires me. Once something triggers my imagination I see inside myself. I actually feel my eyes 'glass' over as I almost plummet to immeasurable internal depths. It often feels much more vast than the external world. In a way, by traversing my internal world I find  pathways to alternative outside worlds. The landscape is within and without.

Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

If everything is the dust from the BIG BANG then there must be a common fundamental code imbedded within everything. Now that's exciting. I can already 'see' that this code is the foundation of and for landscape...a landscape that is not about time or place, but of existence. This code is both here and now, which is in the past and the future. Maybe our imagination has the capacity to stir this common fundamental code agitating it to reveal itself?

However, if we are tethered to a uni dimensional notion of landscape then it means we [probably mainly westerners!] have trained our brains, over time, to view the world this way. I am reminded of Dr. Norman Doidge's fabulous book, 'The Brain That Changes Itself' and his talk at this year's Qld Writers' Festival. Encultured ways of 'seeing' create maps in our brains, but we can change these maps if, as time goes on, we find that previous ways of 'seeing' are not helpful. I am suggesting it is time to change! This is where art's agency lies. Art can help trigger the impetus to create new maps in our brains...maps that link more with imagination or our 'mind's eye' rather than just our eye of eye ball and pupil. I have previously written about Norman Doidge's book and art:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/02/becoming.html

As I explore the potential and potency of the transcultural/religious tree-of-life weaving into my paintings, I wonder if the tree holds the clue to the code imbedded within everything? After all, it can represent systems of all kinds. Its branches and its roots link matter and air, heaven and earth. It symbolises life across religions and cultures through stories and myth. It breaths for us and the planet, and it is in a constant state of change. I wonder.


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

BEAUTY GIVES HOPE A CHANCE

                                           Cosmic Frisson Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2010 SOLD

I have been thinking more about my last post 'Beauty As A Portal' especially with regards to hope. Hope, axiomatically, is about the future, even if it is only a second away. We hope for all sorts of things from the material, to the spiritual, to emotional...for ourselves and others. We talk about things, events and people giving hope, as well as taking it away. Yet, we can choose to be positive or not, and how we choose to react will influence how we perceive hope. I believe beauty scaffolds positivity because as a portal  it provides the door, and the path, for hope to 'travel' into the future, with imagination as its propulsion. Ugliness, debauchery, regurgitated scenes of mayhem and disaster slam the door shut, concealing the path as the imagination descends into despair.

I have just read Cormac McCarthy's novel 'The Road'. It is beautifully written. Despite the story being abjectly awful, the beauty of the prose keeps hope alive. Not only does the reader feel hope for the young boy in the story, but somewhere deep within, there's hope for our planet, even though the book is set in a post apocalyptic world. The beauty of, and with, McCarthy's prose is that it does not neuter the reader. A more pedestrian writer would not have achieved the subtle, yet powerful, juxtapositioning of apocalyptic story and prose-poetry. In a way, the reader of 'The Road' feels more compelled and inspired to ensure our planet is loved.

COSMIC FRISSON oil on linen

The painting above could be our planet...or the edge of it. I could be the edge of a continent or even the Universe...or maybe some subatomic particle viewed through a powerful microscope. I have written about this painting previously http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/cosmic-frisson.html

 

Whatever viewpoint you take, I wanted a sense of something about to happen, something exciting like a first kiss. The frisson is the nanosecond before the kiss when anticipatory distance is both close and far. I suggest that the stirrings of hope, are akin to a frisson. Why? Hope is anticipatory, exciting, dreamy, motivating, stimulating! Beauty gives hope a chance!

 

Update 6th April 2013- This painting sold last year to teh new Gold Coast Hospital, Queensland, Australia.

MY MUM'S EXHIBITION
AT THE BRISBANE SQUARE LIBRARY

Maleny artist, Elsie Brimblecombe exhibed paintings from three of her series of works based on text. These are Italo Calvino’s novel 'Invisible Cities', Brisbane poet Ynes Sanz’s anthology 'Fanny The Flying Housewife And Other Stories', plus French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s prose-poems in 'Les Illuminations'.

The exhibition opened Thursday 10 March and continued until end of April 2011


ARTIST'S TALK
On Saturday 26 March 12 noon Elsie Brimblecombe accompanied by poet Ynes Sanz, gave a presentation at the Brisbane Square Library Theatrette on the ground floor.

                                          Meals ON Wheels: Doris Taylor Acrylic on canvas 46 x 46 cm 2010
                                          Inspired by Ynes Sanz poem of the same name

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
By Elsie M Brimblecombe


ART BASED ON TEXT


The paintings hanging on these Library walls are based on text and were painted during the last two years.


There are three series represented here, none of them complete. Some paintings are from the 2009 series
which was generated by Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”. Some are from the 2010 series based on “Fanny the Flying Housewife and other stories”, a book of poems about some extraordinary women of the twentieth century, by well-known Brisbane poet, Ynes Sanz. I have also included work-in-progress from the 2011 series. These paintings are inspired by “Les Illuminations”, prose-poems written by the young nineteenth century French poet, Arthur Rimbaud.


I do not consider my paintings to be illustrations created to explain or describe the words of the author. Rather their words act as a springboard and an anchor for my imagination. My approach is to find out by some research what drives and what influences the author and then I immerse myself in the chosen text and meditate on it as well.


It is not only the imagery I am attracted to in these texts. It is a certain quixotic playfulness, an element of surprise, an ambiguity, a quirkiness of approach and style which attracts me. Whether I have done these things justice, I am not sure, but Calvino, Sanz and Rimbaud have given me in the last couple of years a focus which I have not found before in more than fifty years of painting. I am grateful to them all as I have had a lot of fun.

Sometimes I think I may be like one of Ynes Sanz’s extraordinary women, Flora Foster Jenkins. She was a singer who could not sing, but she ended up in her seventies singing (still out of tune) to a packed audience in Carnegie Hall! And here am I, perhaps an artist who cannot paint, displaying my work in the city at the Brisbane Square Library! I leave it to you to judge, but hope you receive as much enjoyment from looking at these works as I did in painting them.


Until next time!
Cheers,
Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/

BEAUTY AS A PORTAL

Portal Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

On Saturday 26 February, at my exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core, there was an artist's talk with myself in discussion with art historian Dr. Christine Dauber. The talk went really well and I've had some great feedback from the people who attended. Amongst other things, Christine aksed me about beauty, and whilst I have thought about it before, and indeed have written about it on this BLOG, I found myself synthesising some of my thoughts as I spoke. Here are links to two previous posts on beauty.

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/03/beauty.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/beauty-and-vortex.html

I heard myself say 'beauty is a portal'. I said this in the context that ugliness and the regurgitation of scenes of disaster, ruin, and sadness in the media, and some contemporary art, seem to neuter empowerment. They drain us of energy as we feel overwhelmed by an incapacity to do anything to solve problems and to make the world a better place. 

Hovering At The Centre Oil on linen 30x 30 cm

Beauty, for me, is not a vacuuous prettiness or decorator kind of attractiveness. I choose to paint beautiful images and consciously elide ugliness, and in this conscious elision, ugliness exists in absentia. Ugliness is not a shadow tethered to beauty, but rather a memory which has been let go. This kind of beauty thus holds a pathos which reminds us of what we can lose if beauty is destroyed, or worse, rendered unimportant. This kind of beauty has the power to uplift, energise and re-invigorate. It is a portal! It has the capacity to be much larger than itself, taking the viewer into emotional and psychological spaces that fill the psyche beyond conscious limits and thus extending the conscious...a bit like Dr. Who's Tardis! 

 

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm

Beauty stimulates the imagination. Yes, the imagination can still 'imagine' ugliness, but beauty balances the psyche providing it with a capacity to override the kind of focus on ugliness which disempowers, and acts as a destroyer too. I am reminded of something 'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling said in her excellent Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. She said, 'I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.' For me this statement conjures a few thoughts, one being that maybe the barrage of ugliness, sadness and destruction in the media reveals a lack of imagination which unfortunately reaches out to us daily from newspapers, computers, TVs etc. Another thought is that a lack of imagination arrests the ability of leader/dictators such as Mugabe, Gadaffi, to provide freedoms and rights that grow with and nurture a society. Indeed, as current events in Libya testify, the 'monsters' of violence and torture have been released.

Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

I believe that beauty enables us to reach beyond sympathy, with its giver and receiver heirarchy, to a place of compassion where equality and empathy empower rather than exhaust. Compassion is not transient and it does not as easily fall prey to power plays. It is sustained by beauty and not exhausted by ugliness, even though it knows it exists. [see Compassion above]

I suggest that the catalytic agency of art is its ability to reveal, capture, portray beauty to stimulate imagination and exile monsters.

With the idea that beauty can be a portal taking us to dimensions beyond the concious I thought I'd upload some paintings which, to me at least, seem to suggest a conduit or portal to this place 'beyond'. All the images above depict a portal-like circle. All these paintings are in my current exhibition 'VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core'

 

CHEERS,
Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

BECOMING THE LIGHT & ARTIST'S TALK

                                             Becoming The Light Oil on linen 160 x 120 cm

My exhibition 'Vortex: Seeking Stillness At its Core' is keeping me busy. There's been a steady flow of visitors and some sales too! The opening night went really well, with around 100 or so people atttending. 

Check out page 6 of the Brisbane News...a small 'SnapShot' article about the exhibition:
 http://www.brisbanenews.com.au/issues/821/index.html

The painting above is called 'Becoming The Light'. I finished it just a few days before the exhibition opened. A figure is inside the vortex core embraced by light which errupts from the vortex peak in a tree-of-life cascade. The stillness at the vortex core has been sought and found, and in so doing the figure is not only embraced by light but becomes light, thus illuminating the way.

The Beginning Of Everything Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

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

ARTIST'S TALK!



ARTIST’S TALK: KATHRYN BRIMBLECOMBE-FOX
IN DISCUSSION WITH ART HISTORIAN DR. CHRISTINE DAUBER


@ VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core

GRAYDON GALLERY
29 MERTHYR RD
NEW FARM, BRISBANE


DATE: Saturday 26 February.
TIME: 3 PM – 3.45 pm and drinks afterwards.


Painting for Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox is a spiritual event. Her work has a lyrical optimism that emanates from the beauty of the work itself and from the poetic nature of her supporting texts. Her personal oeuvre is both intelligent and understated. It comes with a big agenda-to make the world a better place in which to live. A daunting goal: but for Brimblecombe-Fox, optimism is a state of mind-a matter of choice- a way of always moving forward. This means her painting is ethically driven, politically informed and aesthetically pleasing. Dr. Christine Dauber


VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core


• Exploring the possibility of stillness in the vortex core where we can listen to things we did not know could be heard, see things we did not know could be seen and feel things we did not know could be felt. As we live locally in an increasingly globalised world new perspectives inspire compassion for self and others.


• Investigating the distance between the nano and cosmological, and thus revealing new perspectives.


• And...WATER...well how does water go down the plughole? As a farmer’s daughter Kathryn has an intense interest in the conversations and debates about water, its uses, value, commodification, infrastructure, sustainability. These are her ‘quiet activism’ paintings!


Online gallery @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-gallery.html


BLOG http://www.kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/  


WEBSITE http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/


MOB: 0409 059 018 PH: From Monday 21 Feb [07] 32542325




Cheers,
Kathryn

EXHIBITION IS UP

'VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core' is now up and ready for visitors. Doors open tomorrow, Tuesday 22 February at 10 am. The opening night is Wednesday 23 from 6-8 pm. The exhibition is open daily until Sunday 6 March 6 pm.

Where?...at Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

* Artist's talk in discussion with Art Historian Dr. Christine Dauber is Saturday 26 February at 3 pm at the exhibition. For more details please visit: http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/02/vortex-exhibition-and-artists-talk.html

The vortex core offers a place of stillness where we can hear things we did not know could be heard, see things we did not could be seen and feel things we did not know could be felt, thus…perhaps…inspiring questions we did not know to ask.

Here are some photos of the exhibition!



  

 

L to R - Portal and Compassion

The photo above shows my Australia 'quiet activism paintings. L to R - GAB: Great Artesian Basin, Underground Currency, Murray Darling Currency and Commodified  

                                 L to R - Galaxial Landscape and Cosmic Frisson

If you are in Brisbane over the next 2 weeks pop in to see VORTEX.

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

PORTAL

                                Portal Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

My exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core opens to the public next Tuesday, with the opening night on Wednesday 23rd 6-8 pm. So, countdown.

The subtitle of Seeking Stillness At Its Core is the important bit for me. I am not interested in portraying depictions of the outer vortex, the cataclysmic, catastrophic or just the plain mayhem of everyday life. After all, there's enough in the general media to keep reminding us...over and over again.

I am interested in exploring potential in stillness. To find stillness, one part of the process is to consciously let go of the negative and unhelpful. These can be beliefs, people, experiences, emotions and so on. Merely ignoring them is not enough because they have an annoyingly irritating habit of surfacing when least wanted ! Letting go is a conscious elision which entails an acknowledgement and then a 'good bye'.

Once let go, negativity exists only in absentia. Lessons learnt and insights gained salute all experience, both negative and positive. In stillness we can reflect upon this knowledge, and in the process create and see new knowledge. Indeed, knowing who we are not, certainly helps us know who we are.

Portal [above] created with two trees which meet in a flash of light, could be the opening into a vortex core. Or maybe the vortex has been cut in cross section enticing the viewer into the stillness. The wreath-like appearance of the circle of trees, hints at a rememberance and acknowledgement of those things which we have let go, in order to become still.

Indeed, to become still, I do think we need more than an action of letting go. This action requires imagination, as does being in stillness. Imagination is the propellor and beauty is the conductor. Beauty offers hope. Beauty is not a vacuuous prettiness because it holds the pathos of true knowledge, as it elides ugliness it knows it exists in absentia. Beauty itself is a portal.

I have written about beauty previously:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/beauty-and-vortex.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/03/beauty.html

SIMILAR PAINTINGS
Compassion
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/compassion.html
Love
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/01/love.html
Afterglow
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/afterglow.html

RADIO INTERVIEW
I am being interviewed on radio on Sunday 20 Feb at around 12.30 pm. Richard Lancaster's 'Intoto' programme on Radio 99.7 FM. Tune in! I've been interviewed by Richard a few times before, for my own exhibitions or for a festival I was often a spokesperson for. He's a great interviewer and very relaxed.

VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core
Gradon Gallery
29 Merthyr Rd
New Farm, Brisbane Queensland, Australia


Dates Tuesday 22 Feb - Sunday 6 March
Open Daily 10 am - 6 pm
OPENING NIGHT Wednesday 23 Feb 6-8 pm

ARTIST'S TALK IN DISCUSSION WITH DR. CHRISTINE DAUBER
On Saturday 26 February from 3-4 pm, at Graydon Gallery, there will be an Artist's talk with artist Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox in discussion with Dr. Christine Dauber [PhD Art History, University of Qld].



Cheers,
Kathrynhttp://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynbrimblecombe-fox/

COMMODIFIED

Commodified Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm 2011

PARADISE @ Purgatory Artspace Melbourne

'Paradise' is open to the public from Thursday 8 September! The opening night is Friday 9 September 6-8 pm. The exhibition dates are 8 September - 8 October, 11 am - 5 pm Tuesday to Saturday at PURGATORY ARTSPACE, 170 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne.

Please check out http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/

and http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/3275-paradise

'COMMODIFIED' Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm 2011

The painting is obviously a map of Australia, but upon closer scrutiny the viewer will discern that the 'map' is created with small $ signs. Regular readers of this BLOG will know that I use small $ signs to depict water, soil etc to pose or stimulate questions about how we 'value' our land. I deliberately make the $ signs small so that from a distance the viewer does not discern them, but when the viewer is close the $ signs become clearly apparent. This play with distance asks questions such as, 'Have you noticed?' It plays with the responsibility we all have to negotiate distance as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world. AND, I don't mean just physical distance, but temporal, cultural, emotional and spiritual.


I am deeply concerned about the sustainability of prime and strategic farmland in Australia. An enslaught of rapid and hectic activity from mining companies, especially coal seam gas miners, threatens this sustainability. I am anti any kind of activity that threatens water sustainability, strategic and prime food producing farmland. With a burgeoning population the world needs to maintain its farmlands in order to feed people. After all, you cannot flick the light switch if you've expired from hunger! Governments need to ensure prime farmlands, and the farmers who farm them, are protected from invasive mining activities. These include those activities that threaten above and below ground water supplies and quality, soil health, and efficient and environmentally sound farming practices. Regular readers will know that I have written about these before. Here are some links to previous posts:
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/underground-currency.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/oils-aint-oilsany-more.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/food-fantasy-in-future.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/murray-darling-currency.html

Governments must prioritise food sustainability for obvious humane reasons, but also for political stability. Hungry stomachs make for angry hearts, and angry hearts make for civil unrest and worse.

'Commodified' is a simple looking painting...indeed it did not take as long as some of my more intricate ones, but it speaks of the madness erupting across parts of Qld and NSW [indeed across the globe! Have you seen 'Gasland'?] with regards to potential degradation of farmlands by mining activities. This madness is what I see as the outer VORTEX, the chaotic whirlwind that does not allow for contemplation and considered scrutiny...or for a scientific analysis of risk. Two soil scientists who spoke at the public forum on the CSG industry, which I attended at the University of Queensland late last year, both started their presentations describing what's happening as 'madness'. Here's the link to my post about the forum:  http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/donkey-and-other-things.html

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

BLOOD CONNECTION

BLOOD CONNECTION Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

Life is getting to be a bit more normal after the Brisbane flood. Bigpond was restored on the weekend...and I've fallen back into my unhealthy habit of spending too much time hooked online. Well, probably not really! But being without internet for so long really highlighted how much time I spend at my computer.

On a broader picture, many people adversely affected by the floods, cyclones or fires here in Australia, are still without power, communication and other basic utilities. One friend has said to me that it amazes her how easily we fall into new patterns of survival when we have to...even if these patterns are accompanied by new or different stresses. Ultimately very exhausting though.

While I was offline I completed the painting above. I had started it before the flood and it, like all my other paintings on the ground floor, was stacked upstairs in case flood waters seeped into my house [thankfully the house remained dry!]. I took this painting back downstairs to my studio [aka garage] about a week after the flood. All the other paintings are still upstairs! Once I have my exhibition I'll get stuck into returning the house to its proper state!

BLOOD CONNECTION
The idea for this painting has been in my mind for some time. I wanted to create an image which brought the whole world together, an image that reminded us that we are connected across time and space...an image that spoke of the connections we make in war and peace. In war it is the spilling of blood, the blood which knows no colour other than red, and is pumped through our bodies with a universal rhythm. Indeed a pulse, like breath, is a basic sign of life, not differentiated by race or culture.

As a child, watching various shows on tv I was intrigued by the concept of blood brothers...you know...when two or more people would cut themselves and then rub the wounds together. As I write this description I am well aware that today this kind of activity could send parents, teachers into a frenzy of worry about such curses as HIV. However, in my childhood it stoked imaginations conjuring up visions of life long comradeship and loyalty.

So, Blood Connection is an image of the map of the world. My much loved transcultural/religious tree of life spills forth from the bottom left of the painting. It flourishes across the canvas pouring out the oceans in blue and the landmasses in blood red. The branches of the tree connect land and sea, the colour red connects each landmass, continent and country, to suggest the visceral and vascular qualities of a body, and the inevitible penetrability of manmade borders, those invisible demarkations that men and women fight to preserve at the behest of governments, ideologies, politics and religions . The world, becomes THE body. Blood spilled becomes the body of the Earth, leaving a memory trace of shared human existence through the loss of life...and tears. A metaphoric rubbing of wounds together....


WATER
The Earth as a body, appeals to me. Why? Well, like our human bodies the Earth is about 70% water. Of this percentage only 2% is freshwater, thus the great need to ensure we look after it. Maybe if we thought more of the Earth as a body we'd be less likely to plunder its resources with such gusto? Maybe risk factors would be more targeted and less broad...more scientific in risk analysis rather than business orientated in risk analysis?

Regular readers will know of my intense interest in water and its various issues. Indeed, water is quite topical here in Australia at the moment! But, it is always topical...we seem to either not have enough or we have too much! Growing up on a grain farm certainly taught me about the vagaries of water. As an adult living in Goondiwindi I learnt more about the commodification of water, its infrastructures, costs, ownership etc.

Blood Connection will be in my forthcoming exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At its Core. Indeed, the painting, whilst it 'speaks' of blood spilled, it also reminds us of the throbbing of life. In the space between loss and life, there exists a place to contemplate, a place of stillness, where we can possibly hear those things we did not know we could hear, see those things we did not know we could see and feel those things we did not know we could feel, ultimately revealing a compassion for self and others which may... just may...mean the end of war and the sustainability of peace.

MAP and WATER PAINTINGS
I have painted a few other paintings which are maps created with my transcultural/religious tree of life. These paintings deal with water issues. This link will take you to an image and post called 'Underground Currency'. where there are links to other posts and images.  http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/underground-currency.html


VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core
Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane
Tuesday 22 Febraury - Sunday 6 March
Open Daily 10 am - 6 pm
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Cheers,
Kathryn

VORTEX: EXHIBITION AND ARTIST'S TALK

Stillness Within Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/06/stillness.html

I still do not have my proper internet at home, but when I visiting the Telstra Shop today, for an unrelated reason, I mentioned I still did not have internet due to a continuing area Bigpond network outage...and I was given a 5 gigabyte Mobile WiFi device. So, I am reconnected and I am SO happy. I can now send out all my email invitations for my exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core. I have had them drafted in my draft folder for ages.

And, readers, I promise you I chose the title for the exhibition long before cyclones started pummeling an already pummelled Qld.

BRISBANE FLOOD

On Wednesday 12 January I evacuated from my house with the Brisbane River rising on one side and overflowing into low lying nearby parkland. Water had started filling my street from this overflow and also from gushing storm water drains. I had not gone to bed on Tuesday night because I was taking all that I could from downstairs to my upstairs...making sure there was some order to the chaos too. I had sandbagged external doors, my pool pumps had been detached and taken to higher ground. My car, and my daughter's car, were full of petrol and parked up the hill. My dog was at a friend's house. Friends were so wonderful!

But, to my great relief the water did not get into my house or yard. On Thursday morning when I gingerly waded through some water to ascertain my house's condition I was so thankful to see that me and my neighbours had been spared major damage. We are the lucky ones, as I know many people who suffered severe damage, and thus the interruption to lives, financial stress and so on.

On the weekend after the flood my street was inundated with volunteers, who helped with everything the flood had caused. I am so grateful to all those people who assisted me with shifting mud. I had fallen heavily on the Wednesday morning and ignored wounds on my ankle. Well... yes... they got infected and I needed antibiotics, and redressing of the wounds every second day at my doctor's surgery. I stuck a plastic bag over my foot, but it still did not allow me to get muddy in order to help all those who were helping me. The power came back on 6 days after I evacuated, and that was also the day my children returned home. I am so glad they were not here when I was madly preparing!

VORTEX

I am getting excited about my forthcoming show which opens in just under 3 weeks. The flood and aftermath forced me to stop painting for about 2 weeks, but I have taken my easel back downstairs to my studio...aka garage! Ah...yes...I am not moving everything else back until after the cyclone season! The sand bags are still guarding my doors!

VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At its Core

Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane

Tuesday 22 Feb - Sunday 6 March

Open Daily 10 am - 6 pm

Opening Night Wednesday 23 Feb 6-8 pm

Can We Eat Coal For Breakfast-NO! Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/food-fantasy-in-future.html

ARTIST'S TALK!

ARTIST’S TALK: KATHRYN BRIMBLECOMBE-FOX

IN DISCUSSION WITH ART HISTORIAN DR. CHRISTINE DAUBER
@ VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core

GRAYDON GALLERY
29 MERTHYR RD
NEW FARM, BRISBANE

DATE: Saturday 26 February.

TIME: 3 PM – 3.45 pm and drinks afterwards.

Painting for Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox is a spiritual event. Her work has a lyrical optimism that emanates from the beauty of the work itself and from the poetic nature of her supporting texts. Her personal oeuvre is both intelligent and understated. It comes with a big agenda-to make the world a better place in which to live. A daunting goal: but for Brimblecombe-Fox, optimism is a state of mind-a matter of choice- a way of always moving forward. This means her painting is ethically driven, politically informed and aesthetically pleasing. Dr. Christine Dauber

VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core
• Exploring the possibility of stillness in the vortex core where we can listen to things we did not know could be heard, see things we did not know could be seen and feel things we did not know could be felt. As we live locally in an increasingly globalised world new perspectives inspire compassion for self and others.
• Investigating the distance between the nano and cosmological, and thus revealing new perspectives.
• And...WATER...well how does water go down the plughole? As a farmer’s daughter Kathryn has an intense interest in the conversations and debates about water, its uses, value, commodification, infrastructure, sustainability. These are her ‘quiet activism’ paintings!

Online gallery @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-gallery.html

BLOG http://www.kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/
WEBSITE http://www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com/
MOB: 0409 059 018 PH: From Monday 21 Feb [07] 32542325

Cheers,
Kathryn

VORTEX COMING SOON

This is an image of Galaxial Landscape Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm. It will be in my forthcoming exhibition VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core which opens Wed 23 Feb 6-8pm. The exhibition dates are Tues 22 Feb - Sunday 6 March and it will be open daily 10 am -6 pm.

Regular readers, I am sorry I have not posted much lately, but the floods here in Brisbane have been disastrous. I am one of the lucky ones because my house did not get wet, but I did have to evacuate through nearly knee high water in my street. I had spent the previous 2 days preparing the house, by sandbagging doors, and taking everything that was downstairs to my second floor. I filled my car and my daughter's car with fuel and parked them up high, plus a whole lot of other preparations that you just do not think of until you have to.  

I am still without internet at home, so I am using my daughter's laptop remotely. Bigpond does not know when internet will be restored as various pivotal junctions were totally covered by water for a few days and repairs are currently being done around the clock. 

It is very distressing when I meet people who had houses that were totally inundated with water. Some, did not expect to be flooded and thus were not prepared. It is very sad too to think of the devastation in the Lockyer Valley where the wall of water caused loss of life and homes and everything else. I have relations who live in the Valley and they are physically ok, but they have lost massive production on their farms.

As regular readers now, I write and paint about water. In the aftermath of the flood I am thinking again about the implications of commodifying water. I have written about this before and I will write more about it when I have better internet access.

Cheers,

Kathryn

FLOOD

Hi There. I have been absent for awhile because we have had floods in Brisbane and I had to evacuate my house. Not before all my belongings from downstairs were taken upstairs, plus a whole lot of other precautions. The good news is that my house did not get wet, but another 20-30cm and it would have! I am one of the lucky ones, because many people have lost everything. In the Lockyer Valley many also lost their lives. The flooding all over QLD has been devastating.

I still do not have internet reconnected to my house, thus it is not so easy for me to keep up with my BLOG. Hopefully BIGPOND will have the outage in my area fixed soon.

All my paintings were taken upstairs. But, I have returned my easel and paints to my downstairs studio and will get back to painting this weekend. VORTEX: Seeking Stillness At Its Core, my forthcoming exhibition, is back on track! Check out my TWITPIC event page @ http://twitpic.com/e/v3x

I can't load any images easily, as I am working on my daughter's laptop remotely.


Cheers,
Kathryn 

UNDERGROUND CURRENCY

Underground Currency Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm 2010

I have really had fun painting this new work 'Underground Currency'. Yes, it is a painting of Australia! But, it is Australia with one of her most wondrous life sustaining natural gifts exposed. This gift is the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) which extends across 22% of the continent. It is not one big underground lake, but rather a system of aquifers, some very deep and others closer to the surface. 

GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN and MINING

There are risks to the Great Artesian Basin due to a burgeoning mining industry, especially coal seam gas [CSG] mining. Regular readers will know how concerned I am about the potential for degradation to water and soils. 

In fact, the federal Government's own National Water Commission's recent position paper on CSG and Water clearly calls for caution.

http://www.nwc.gov.au/www/html/2959-coal-seam-gas.asp?intSiteID=1

FARM GIRL

I grew up on a grain farm outside Dalby, on the Darling Downs, Queensland. My Dad had a bore, which provided us with water in times of drought. However, whilst it kept plants alive and allowed us to wash clothes and ourselves during dry times, it was a too salty for ongoing human or animal consumption. Yet, 2-3 km away our neighbour's bore provided water that was drinkable for human beings and animals. The worry is that mining and CSG fracking techniques [pushing chemicals, water and sand into coal seams to release gas ie: creating mini-like earthquakes] could cause natural occurring barriers in aquifer systems to break down and allow for cross contamination, not only of different water qualities, but also chemicals [natural and introduced]. Many farmers rely on underground water to sustain livestock and grow our food.

UNDERGROUND CURRENCY  Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm

So, to the painting! This work is closely related to two earlier works on paper 'Murray Darling Currency' and 'GAB: Great Artesian Basin'. Its title, with the word currency, plays with ideas of water flowing, financial terms, and contemporaneousness...the flow/current of water, money and time! But, it also refers to political currency; the machinations of political agendas molded and stroked by power, business, lobbyists and needs, desires and wants. Look closely and you will see that I have painted the area of the GAB with small blue $ signs. 

The word underground in the title can be read as literally referring to underground aquifer water supplies, but it also refers to a subtext of political decision making that impacts on the environment and thus...us. In a broader context it also refers to the kind of secrets and subterfuge which propelled the world towards the Global Financial Crisis [GFC]...indeed is it really over? Even the Wikileaks revelations exposes the 'underground'; the secrets that form a hidden dimension, populated by shadows, that impact life.  

The picture below is a detail of 'Underground Currency'. You can see more clearly the small blue $ signs I have used  to depict the Great Artesian Basin...currency!!! From a distance these $ are not discernible, but they are as the viewer moves closer to the painting. Regular readers will know that I like to entice the viewer to move back and forth posing questions like, 'Have you noticed?' But, also alluding to the back and forth movements, from far to close perspective, that are necessary as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world.  The use of a symbol of wealth, to depict a natural substance, questions how we 'value' nature's gifts.

Tree-of-Life

But there is hope! My much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life motif creates the sea surrounding Australia as well as the continent. The tree 'speaks' of pulsing life systems. Its vascular like essence linking everything seen and unseen. Its beauty deliberately edging out ugliness to provide hope for a future ongoing. 

 

                                                         Detail Underground Currency

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com