RETURNING

Returning Oil on linen 50 x 92 cm

 

Returning? Returning from where, from whom?

 

I often think about the presence of the future in the past. Sounds non-sensical in some ways! But, I've had experiences which, with hindsight, have heralded the future. However, it has only been with hindsight that I have the Ah Ha moment of realisation. In a sense, hindsight is a return to a moment in the past...realising that the past can 'return' to the future.

 

The concept of return or returning, is probably more apparent in the saying history repeats itself. Now this can be not so bad or it can be dreadful, particularly in the case of war. Whilst the weapons and tactics of war might have changed, the underlying human instigations perhaps have not? Why do we resort to war and conflict over and over again?

 

When we gaze out into Space we are seeing light, emitted from stars, that has travelled billions of year to get to us. This light is the past being witnessed in its future. In my mind we 'return' to the past, to those moments just after the Big Bang, when we see the stars. It makes me tingle with awe.

 

There is also the story of Adam and Eve, who upon expulsion from the Garden of Eden, are aware that a return to Eden is possible and something to strive for. Adam and Eve, representing humanity, are sent forth to experience the space between antimonies, that space created with the injection of 'evil' into the equation. 'Good' now had a companion, albeit a recalcitrant one. With humanity experiencing life, in this space between antimonies, it was given an opportunity to understand who it is not, thus making it possible to discover who it actually is. The repetition of war and conflict suggests we have a few more lessons to learn!

 

Now to my new painting above called Returning. The cascade of arced trees rustles with light, reflecting that emitted by the blood red moons. Interpsersed amongst the colourful branches of the trees are various dots, including red ones. These seem to whisper to the moons, echoing time seemingly passed and time heralded from the future. Yes, regular readers will identify the trees as my much loved age-old trancsultural/religious trees of life. This symbolic reference to life embraces its entirety, from pre-human [even pre-Earth] to that which exists in a post-human future, that may witness through implosion [or other forces] both a death and rebirth of the Universe. In a sense...the ultimate RETURNING.

 

I have used the word returning as the title rather than something like The Return, because the latter is finite, a once off, whereas returning suggests a constancy and an eternity.

 

Here are some links to other posts where I discuss concepts of returning:

Collective Memory

Perpetual Beginning

Body As Site

Past Present Future

 

MY BOOK AND CHRISTMAS

 

I have some copies of my book For Everyone and it would be a fantastic Christmas present! So if you want one or even more let me know, via comment [which I won't publish] and I will get back to you. Or you can contact me HERE

 

AND MORE CHRISTMAS

 

I have made two new 'galleries' on my website, in preparation for Christmas. If you are after present ideas, for Christmas, or any other celebration, please check out:

 

Oil Paintings Under $1000

Works On Paper Under $1000 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

 

 

 

 

MOUNTAINS

More Mountains Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm 2002

 

I am suffering from an impasse. I have three canvases prepared for me to paint, but the flow is just not happening at the moment. Time to pause and reflect. It is all part of the process, the creative process. I have learnt to to step away, literally and emotionally, from my work when this happens, to make room for ideas to flow, and gel into inspiration.

The impasse has possibly happened because I was co-host to a big milestone party for one of my children. Yep...lot's of energy put into, what turned out to be, one of the best parties I have ever been to. I danced till 2.30am!

So, I decided to write this BLOG post featuring paintings where I have portrayed mountains. In my last post FAITH I wrote about mountains being a metaphor for overcoming adversity. The mountain is a metaphor for adversity, which upon ascent reveals new horizons and perspectives, giving fuel for optimism and hope.

Regular readers will know that I use landscape elements as visual metaphors for many things eg: horizons, mirages, trees, skies and so on. By using landscape elements, to reach out and touch hearts and minds, I hope that a connection between us and Earth, plus our universal environment, is deepened. Ascribing emotional elements to landscape may possibly make us think twice about how we sustain ourselves and the planet.

More Mountains and Metaphor are two paintings from ten years ago, just after I left the country to move to Brisbane. Yes, there is a personal element...a story of a journey...a massive change and overcoming fear and adversity. I literally left the interior, crossed the great Dividing Range and settled near the coast.

These two paintings were inspired by the many trips I used to make to and from Brisbane to Goondiwindi. This 4-5 hour drive took me, and my family, across the Great Dividing Range either at Cunningham's Gap or Toowoomba. Please check out this MAP where you can see the terrain. The driving directions given on the map are directing through Toowoomba, but you can also go through Warwick.

The mountains at Cunningham's Gap are amazing. Their light and shade, deep rich colour and their amazing silhouettes are astounding. Each time I see them I slow down, just to 'drink' in with my eyes, their beauty and majesty. More Mountains and Metaphor are both directly inspired by the mountains at Cunningham's Gap.

Metaphor Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002

 

 

The painting below is called Life and as you can see, it tells the story of a woman's journey from birht to death. It is somewhat black in its demeanour. But, notice the mountains in the distance. They can be read many ways...as a block, a cause of shadow and darkness, an opportunity, new horizons, strength, potential. The road, as indicated by the marked lines does not end. It continues out of the paintings, maybe traversing the mountians and reaching the other side. As each generation is born new opportunities and different expectations forge a diversity of roads.

 

 

Life Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005

 

Secrets Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2005

 

In Secrets the mountains are half hidden, by what seems to be a mirage-like aura. They shimmer in the distance, enticing with their glimpsed majesty. What secrets do they hold? What is over the other side, literally and metaphorically?

 Mountains Dancing Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2005

 

Mountains Dancing was recently shortlisted for an art award with a theme focused on the benefits of rain. Here is the Artist's Statement I wrote for my entry:

I grew up on the Darling Downs, on the flat treeless Pirrinuan Plain between Dalby and Jimbour. Looking west the flat horizon melted into shimmering mirages in Summer, and in Winter its flatness drew a sharp line between land and sky. Looking east the majestic Bunya Mountains cut a silhouette against often relentless blue skies. These same skies, when darkened with rain and storm clouds, seemed to embrace the mountains, bringing them closer.

The flat western horizon would often tantalise my parents with strips of rain falling on distant paddocks. We’d pray for the rain to come to us. One hot day, my two younger brothers and I decided to help by dancing a wild rain dance! It actually rained a few drops!

I also remember my father’s delight when gentle soaking rain arrived, swelling the rich black soil and easing his anxiety.

In Mountains Dancing I have incorporated memories of my childhood, plus those of living for eighteen years further west in Goondiwindi. Strips of rain, on distant horizons, always met with emotional responses, particularly during drought. In this painting, strips of rain fall from clouds which seem to dance across a fertile red sky. Water penetrates the land, forming and replenishing what could be rivers, puddles, underground aquifers.

The whole landscape dances with joy and fertility. The latter symbolised by the colour red. A dancing rhythm of movement suggests a natural flow of water on and in the landscape, bringing it to life, sustaining crops, livestock, flora and fauna…and livelihoods.

 

 

Living With Distance oil on linen 120 x 160 [Diptych] 2002

Living With Distance is another painting from ten years ago. Notice the mountains edging the curvature of the Earth. A bride floats above the landscape, her veil forming cloud-like illusions across a vast sky. As a young bride, like many who marry and live in the country, I literally lived with distance. Yet, distance is not only about the literal space between things. It can also be about emotional distance and spiritual separation from people and the planet. However, the bride in  Living With Distance seems to embrace the planet in a white light, a light of protection, as her dress and body mirror land formations and contours. The white lines marking the Earth, seem to call out to the bride. They are the spiritual remnants of pioneering women of the past, ancestors who forged the fabric of community.

 In Unison Oil on linen 92 x 207cm  2006 SOLD

 

In Unison is in a collection in Sth Korea. This is something I wrote previously:

 

'In Unison' speaks about the universal heartbeat of time and history. At a truly fundamental level we are reminded of life by the beating of our hearts and the rhythmic pace of our breath. No matter where we come from, what religion we have faith in, what type of political structure we espouse at a fundamental level we all share the same reminders of life. ..those elements of life that have a pattern and rhythm.

 

Elemental Oil on linen 52 x 90 cm 2009

Elemental  is an ambiguous landscape. The tree-of-life creates a formation mirroring a few landscape elements including a mountain. Red 'clouds' rain down onto the tree-of-life mountain.

Into the Symphony Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2008

 

I have written about Into The Symphony twice before. Please check HERE and HERE

Viscera Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2008 SOLD

 

From a previous Artist's Statement

 

This painting is about ‘seeing’ the interiority of vastness at the same time as witnessing the vastness enmass.  The macro and micro can be  experienced simultaneously, possibly giving clues to negotiating an increasingly globalised world lived locally. This painting also plays with perspective and distance.

I have called this painting ‘Viscera’ meaning that the internal life forces of the earth are revealed. Yet, ignoring the detail, the sum total is a large landscape. But, is the viewer sure of where they stand in view of this vast landscape? Is the viewer in front of a land and sky scene, or above a landscape of land and water, or inside the internal workings? The landscape seems to be born from a tree…the tree-of-life with its branches becoming visceral and vascular reminding us that our bodies hold these same truths and energies. This is where the image can devolve into something more universal than a particular landscape. I like the fact that a viewer standing at a distance will ‘see’ one  ‘landscape’ and then up close there is another landscape, yet it is the same landscape…a living one. Enticing the viewer to move back and forth from the painting replicates the moves I made when creating it. This dance with distance is an important component of my work.

 

Frisson with Distance Oil on linen 85 x 147cm 2009 SOLD

 

 

Frisson Oil on linen 84 x 147 cm 2010 SOLD

 

 

Hope In The Distance Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2010 SOLD

The three paintings above Frisson, Frisson With Distance and Hope In The Distance are all ambiguous landscapes featuring a mountain-like form, created with my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. They are also similar to Into The Symphony and Viscera.

In Frisson and Frisson With Distance the charged moment where horizons meet is the frisson of life, possibility and hope. The tingle, like the moment before a kiss, is inherent. The mountain meets the sky, connecting everything, fueling energy and suggesting potential.

Knowing Stillness Oil on linen 85 x 150 cm 2011 SOLD

 Galactic Horizons and Beyond Oil on linen 90 x 150 cm 2012

Knowing Stillness and Galactic Horizons and Beyond are very recent paintings, where the mountain has been untethered from more formal and traditional interpretations. The metaphoric quality pervades and the images take on multiple possibilities beyond Earth-bound perspectives.

The Mountain offers a view of where we have been and where we might go. It also clearly affords us the knowledge that there is more beyond sight, beyond the distances already travelled and those yet to be traversed. Having been in the valleys, where sight is impeded, the notion of close and far distances helps us negotiate perils, sanctuaries, unkonwns and hope.

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

FAITH

 Shared Destinies Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2007

I have previously written, on this BLOG, that I have faith in complexity; the kind of complexity which reveals itself as a deep and infinite pool where the ripples of time and life perpetually reveal secrets in the ebb and flow of questioning, wonder, imagination and discovery. However, the kind of complexity some humans create, pours oil over the waters of time and life, obscuring revelation, and neutering wonder and imagination.  It does not nurture life's universal forces or open us to fulsome understanding and appreciation. It pales into dangerous simplicity when compared with the universal complexity of all life forces. Humankind's 'complexity' is illusory as it distracts and detracts.

The recent riots currently experienced around the world, plus the intent of the creators of the anti Islam film which lit the flames of violence, are examples of some of humankind's drive to obscure the wonders and joys of life. I believe, for the majority of people, no matter what their beliefs are, there is no desire to light, and keep fuelling the flames of violence, disrespect, hate and negativity. Yet, we find the world transfixed, angry, incredulous, fearful and anxious in the face of recent happenings which draw us toward the flames, gathering us into the divisionist intent. Compassion erodes and this erosion may well be the ultimate aim?

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2010

Shared History Oil n linen 80 x 120 cm 2006

 

The three paintings Shared Destinies [top], Shared History [above] and Histories [below] all 'speak' about the shared human existence: we all share the planet and call it 'home', signs of life ie: heart beat and breath are common, we share age-old stories and symbols, and we all share an urge for identity. Societal identity is manifested in culture and religion, where focusing on outward differences conceals the underlying common urge. Unfortunately, this focus and ultimate concealment fans the flames of humakind's illusory and dengerous 'complexity'.

 

The three paintings all use the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol as a visual guide to explore ideas of shared history. In all the paintings the tree-of-life connects beyond the human experience, touching the sky and igniting the heavens, connecting us to all of life and its beautiful complexity. I use the word 'beautiful' deliberately because, as regular readers will know, I don't believe beauty has an antonymn. Therefore, the divisionism of the kind created by humankind's illusion is not a problem. Please check out my previous posts BEAUTY GIVES HOPE A CHANCE

and BEAUTY-HAS NO ANTONYM

 

Histories  Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005 

 Mountains and Metaphors Oil on linen 2005

 

 

Mountains and Metaphors is a painting which 'speaks' about overcoming adversity. The mountain is a metaphor for adversity, which upon ascent reveals new horizons and perspectives, giving fuel for optimism and hope.

 

The world currently has an enormous 'mountain' to ascend. At the foothills, in the shadow of the mountain, greed, hate, anger, fear, prejudice, judgement and a plethora of other human frailties grip our ankles, maintaining a myopia and giving rise to violent tackle.

 

Yet if we can twist our ankles, forcing myopia's grip to release, we can ascend the mountain. At the summit all horizons, literal and metaphoric, are revealed; those behind, in front, below and above. Optimism and hope are given a chance, a breath of fresh air. At the summit of the metaphoric mountain humankind's place within the universe can be seen, as myopic sight is untangled to reveal Galactic Horizons and Beyond. The opportunity to see all perspectives, even simultaneously, is exciting. I am optimistic...yet optimism is a choice. Please check out my previous post on optimism MYOPTIMISM

 

The summit of the mountain gives us an opportunity to 'see' and 'feel' a universal pulse, the rhythm that dances in unison with our hearts. This pulse is eternal, even if humankind is not.

 

The summit of the mountain gives a chance to breath freely, to 'see' and 'feel' the breath of eternity, its rhythmic inhale and exhale in unison with our own breathing. Eternity's Breath is lent to us for humankind's duration.

 

The summit of the mountain reveals what true complexity is. It is beautiful. It holds the secrets to life, awaiting perpetual revelation. It is not simple, simplistic or didactic about what is right or wrong. It stimulates questions, wonder and imagination. It is where light shines and where compassion uncovers humankind's illusions of difference to reveal common and shared traits within the human race and the universal rhythm of life. 

 

Have faith in complexity!

 

 

 Earth's Pulse oil on linen 80 x 200 2006

Please check out HERE and HERE

 Infinity Oil on linen 100 x 70cm 2011

 

 Galactic Horizons and Beyond Oil on linen 90 x 150 cm 2012

Eternity's Breath oil on linen 90 x 150 cm 2012

 

Cheers Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

TIME TRAVELLING

Tree-Of-Life Time Travelling, Oil on linen 90 x 150 cm

 

 

Nearly 21 years ago, I was a new Mother. My first born baby girl was, and still is, beautiful. However, as most new parents know, life with a newborn is exhausting. I remember lying on my lounge room couch, feeding my baby...and we both fell asleep. Mine was a heavy, exhausted, deep sleep where I plummeted into an almost alternative state. I dreamt...I was flying...and I awoke suddenly with my arm outstretched reaching for something. I knew I had touched Time.

 

How did I know this? Well, I just knew. I lay back down, settled my baby and tried to gain some composure. I felt a physical weight, as sense of having been absent and that I had returned with a thump. Nearly 21 years later, I can still recall these feelings, albeit only as a whisper.

 

So, did I touch Time? Or was this experience a sign of complete physical and mental exhaustion? Maybe the exhaustion relaxed the boundaries that keep us contained inside 'normalcy'? Maybe the exhaustion allowed for a portal to be opened? Who knows! But, it's fun to wonder...and that's what artists do!

 

So, this story brings me to my new painting Tree-Of-Life Time Travelling. Regular readers will [again] identify my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life. Two trees 'grow' from the bottom of the painting, indicating that their roots exist outside the painting...with/in Time. The trees are LIFE in all of its fulsome entirity ie: everything! They twist and turn, in a symphony of colour, across a rich crimson 'sky', which could be a sky or space or some other medium existing in the cosmic or quantum 'out there'.  The 'flow' of life is fluid in any, and possibly all directions, across and with time and space. The trees meet somewhere, creating a frisson, a place/space portal where the arrow of time illusion... melts.  

 

Even if we never actually time travel...thank goodness for wonder and imagination!

 

DR WHO

 

Maybe I watched too much Dr Who when I was a kid? Hey, I still watch it. I love Dr. Who, the Time Travelling Lord. The Tardis is Dr. Who's time travelling vehicle. Vehicle! That makes me think of time as a kind of 'road network' and we all know that even here on Earth roads can take us in a multiple of directions. We don't have to always go forward, never to return to places! Imagine how much more complex, exciting and sophisticated the 'roads' of time are. And, imagine travelling on them, especially in vehicles/dimensions that appear small on the outside, but are huge on the inside, like Dr. Who's marvellous Tardis.

 

I have uploaded the painting below because it is one of my 'road' paintings. I painted a few about ten years ago, just after my divorce.  Notice the multiple horizons and how the road snakes its way through them. The word 'distance' in the title does not have to mean a literal one point perspective distance. I know some may think it is a long bow, but I can see similarities between Tree-Of-Life Time Travelling painted in 2012 and Driving Into The Distance painted in 2002!

 

In my last post Untethering Landscape: Revolutionary? I write about untethering our ideas of landscape from Earth-bound perspectives...maybe if we do this we'll 'see' the 'roads' of time?

 

Driving Into The Distance Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2002

A RECENT EXPERIENCE 'TIME TRAVELLING'

I attended a really stimulating lecture, at the University of Queesland Art Museum last Saturday. It was co-hosted with the UQ students' Society of Fine Arts [SOFA] The guest lecturer was Prof. Mark Ledbury from the University of Sydney, Department of Art History and Film Studies. He is also Director of the Power Institute 

The title of the lecture was  'Eccentric, Capricious, Bizarre... Thinking About History Painting'.  Prof. Ledbury's passionate and animated presentation of 18th century history painting propelled me back in time. Yes, I felt I was there! His description of artists' manoeuvres across a range of concerns, from choice of subject matter to composition, humanised them in a way which my previous academic experiences with 18th century history painting had never ever hinted at. He brought the era alive, in a way where, as an artist myself, I resonated with their struggles, gambles and games. Prof. Ledbury is currently writing a new book called An Eccentric History of History Painting. [You can see photos of the UQAM/SOFA event here ]

History, taught well, certainly can take a person back in time. I know it's not the same as a literal transportation of a physical body back or forth in time. However, until vehicles/dimensions are created/found for us to 'transport' ourselve through time, I am content with history....delivered in the way Prof. Ledbury 'performed'...as my 'vehicle'. Oh...and don't forget... imagination!

This takes me to the BIG HISTORY project founded by Bill Gates and Australian academic David Christian. Yes, BIG HISTORY is described as an 'Introduction to Everything'. Here's a quote from BIG HISTORY'S Home Page:

Big history takes a big perspective evolving study in independent disciplines to a holistic view of our inter-related universe. Before you know it, physics, chemistry, biology, ancient civilizations, and contemporary human history suddenly fit together.

I am pleased to say that there are a number of Australian schools who have successfully applied to be pilot schools for the BIG HISTORY project. A study of history...going back in time and learning... surely must help pave the roads of future time.

REMINDER
The Tattersall's Landscape Art Award is on public exhibition until Friday 21 September at Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St, Brisbane. My painting is Cosmic Dust You can see all the paintings HERE

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE: REVOLUTIONARY?

Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

This year's, entry by invitation, Tattersall's Club Landscape $25,000 Art award opened last week at Brisbane's Tattersall's Club. The winner is well known Queensland artist Ian Smith. I have known Ian for many, many years and it's exciting to see someone you know win such a great award. Of course I would have liked to have won! But, I have been in this game [ie: art world] for a long time, and I count my blessings for having been invited to exhibit in such a strong exhibition.

You can see all the paintings in the award exhibiton online HERE 

If you live in, or close to, Brisbane you can see the paintings at their public exhibition, from Monday 10 September until Friday 21 September 7am- 6 pm at Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St in Brisbane's CBD.

My entry Cosmic Dust is above. On the opening night, and at a 'meet and greet the artists' jazz night on Friday, I chatted to many people about Cosmic Dust. I always love a chance to chat!

Please click HERE to read the post I wrote just after I finished Cosmic Dust

Accompanying each painting in the Tattersall's exhibition is an artist's statement. This is mine below:

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Cosmic Dust simultaneously suggests the multiple perspectives and horizons, in the close and far distances, existing between the nano and vast. This painting, seemingly a landscape of Earth in Space, untethers landscape from Earth-bound perspectives...suggesting that maybe a sub-atomic particle or even a whole Universe can provide new perspectives of and for landscape.

In our globalised world, in which we live locally, new perspectives [seen simultaneously?] may hold clues to how to sustain life on Earth, for indeed humankind has no other landscape/place to call ‘home’.

The circle of two trees, created with my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, represents life as it viscerally branches out and roots itself into the landscape of all existence. The trees are encircled by white light, representing everything from Earth's atmosphere, to reflected sunlight, to divine light …even the flash of light at the Big Bang…an afterglow? 

The title Cosmic Dust suggests that subatomic, atomic, human, planetary and universal entities are the dust created by the Big Bang. Thus, the painting can be seen variously as many landscapes; perhaps Earth or the Universe in Space, maybe a drop of water or perhaps a spec of dust floating across a dusky country Queensland sky?

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE: REVOLUTIONARY?

In my chats with people, at the Tattersall's exhibition, the idea of untethering landscape from Earth-bound perspectives seemed to strike a chord. Why? I suspect it holds the possibility of discovery and the potential for new ways of doing things....and I don't mean only new ways of painting...but rather that taking different perspectives may just reveal answers to questions of sustainability [across the ambit of human pursuits] and maybe...just maybe....provoke better questions that then unfold into new discoveries.

It seemed almost revolutionary, at a landscape exhibition, to suggest untethering landscape from Earth! But, if everything in the universe, from the quantum to the cosmic [with humans placed somwhere in the matrix], is the 'dust' created by the Big Bang, then 'landscape' lives within us...we are the landscape.

Please read my post TO GROK LANDSCAPE  for more on the idea that we are not separate from the landscape...and I don't mean just the Earth-bound one!

UPDATE

In my last post I mentioned I had been to the Nindooinbah Woolshed exhibition opening..opened by well known Brisbane Art Dealer, Bruce Heiser.

Here are a couple of photos from the evening:

Above: Here's me with my very talented artist [printmaker] friend Wayne Singleton. You can see one of his artworks on the right. It is a handcoloured relief block print. My painting Sap of Life is behind us.

Please check out Wayne's WEBSITE  to see more of his wonderful work.

Above: Here's me again with one of the fantastic curators of the Nindooinbah exhibition, Susan Short. My paintings Halo [on left] and Finding The Light [on right] are behind us.

Above: And, here is a photo of the Nindooinbah woolshed...an example of a quintessentially Australian building.


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

SCIART AND MORE!

                                DETAIL of new painting...still to be finished Time Travel

This post is going to be a newsy one. Lots to tell.

SYMBIARTIC
SCIENTIFIC AMERICA'S ART-SCIENCE BLOG

I am very excited about this...one of my paintings Earth's Pulse, which I uploaded in my last post Six Years-Celebration, has been featured on Scientific America's Art/Science Blog Symbiartic.

They are featuring an artwork per day for the month of September...and mine is the first! Click HERE to see it. And, please Facebook 'Like' it or Tweet it or other....!

While you in the Art/Science mindset...check out Symbiartic's two bloggers' sites:
Glendon Mellow's The Flying Trilobite
Kalliopi Monoyios Scientific Communications and Consulting

AND Again with a Art/Science mindset please make sure you read about Brisbane artist Joannah Underhill's amazing experience as artist in residence at the University of Queensland Institute of Molecular Biology...please check out my note below!


NEW GALLERIES ON MY WEBSITE

I have created a couple of new 'galleries' on my website.
One is Adam and Eve...And That Tree  and the other is Cosmology

Adam and Eve...And That Tree exhibits five paintings that directly reference the story, shared by the three Abrahamaic religions, of Adam and Eve.

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


Cosmology exhibits a selection of my paintings where I explore the close and far distances between the quantum and cosmic.

Ad Infinitum? Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

 

ARTICLE IN HIGHLIFE DOWNS LIVING

Highlife Downs Living  has featured an article about me and my work in their new Spring Edition. The terrific photographs were taken by Gillian Van Niekerk from VannPhotography. Also check out Highlife Downs Living Facebook page, where their profile banner [see image below taken by Gillian Van Niekerk] is a close up image of one of my paintings, Radiance. The magazine is published quarterly and features news from the Darling Downs region. Check out their 'About' page.

Now, I know I do not live on the Downs any more, but I am a Downs girl having grown up on my parent's grain farm outside Dalby...and then, after marrying, spending eighteen years living in Goondiwindi. The girl might leave the country...BUT the country never leaves the girl!

From High Life Downs Living - Photo taken by Gillian Van Niekerk-

Detail Radiance oil on linen 92 x 208 cm

TATTERSALL'S LANDSCAPE ART AWARD

I delivered my entry on Friday in readiness for judging this coming week, and the opening  of the exhibition and prize announcements, on Wednesday 5th September. The Tattersall's landscape Award is an invitation award, so I am very happy to have been asked again this year.

Regular readers will know of my thoughts about untethering landscape from Earth, so that we are free to take different perspectives, even simultaneously. In an age where research burrows into vast quantum worlds and intimate cosmic places, focusing on an Earth-bound idea of landscape may mean we miss something, individually and collectively!

So, my entry is not an Earth bound landscape, but it could be of the Earth, but then again it could be a Universe... or a spec of dust. Shall keep you posted!


NINDOOINBAH WOOLSHED EXHIBITION

I went to the cocktail party opening of the Nindooinbah Woolshed exhibiton last night. AND, what a fabulous party it was. The exhibition of ten artists, including me, looked fabulous in the old, but restored woolshed. The shed looked like a medieval banqueting hall, with fairy lights highlighting rafters and a magnificent chandelier hanging in the centre. Nindooinbah is a historical homestead and property an hour's drive south of Brisbane.

The exhibition is raising funds for the local Quarry Action Group, which is fighting to stop a massive quarry in the area. The region also has issues with coals seam gas exploration. I heard some frightening and amazing stories from locals last night!

The exhibition continues today 2nd September, with a high tea and then open to the public. Below is one of my paintings in the exhibition. The upper 'landscape' becomes a 'landscape' of $ signs at the bottom. The tree is the last witness to the commoditisation of Earth, but the white light offers a glimmer of hope.

Last Witness Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

 

 

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: When Science Is Art

Last Thursday night I attended a fascinating function at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art [GOMA], but hosted by the University of Queensland's Insitutute of Molecular Biology [IMB]. It was an exhibition of paintings by Joannah Underhill, plus a presentation by her and Dr Nick Hamilton, with an introduction by the Director of the IMB Prof. Brandon Wainwright.

Joannah has been an artist-in-residence at the IMB. She is also a cancer survivor. Her presentation was compelling, intellectual, emotional and poetic. It was obvious that both Dr. Hamilton and Prof Wainwright were deeply affected by Joannah's presence at the IMB. Indeed, I spoke with a number of researchers and they all effusively spoke about how an artist's way of  'seeing' provoked them to look and see with different and even new eyes. Please check out Joannah's Residency page.

This is a link to the GOMA event's invitation. Although it has already happened, the invitation provided information, links and details you may be interested in. Please click HERE


Well, I think that's all.
Cheers,
Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

SIX YEARS - CELEBRATION!

Earth's Pulse Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2006

It is six years this month since I started my BLOG. I attended a marketing and PR seminar for artists at Brisbane's Metro Arts six years ago...and was very inspired by a fellow who talked about BLOGGING. I came home, did what he said to do ie: check out Blogspot...and six years later here I am.

My first post was on the 9th August 2006 and I have posting about once a week since that day. My first post was about a forthcoming exhibition PULSE: Throb Vibrate Quiver Thrill Rhythm = Sign of Life I did not even upload an image [there's one above that should have been uploaded], nor did I ramble too much...and I am absolutely sure no-one saw or read this post! But, over a period of time, I became more confident and more savvy about linking my BLOG, via other social and related interest sites, so that visitors and followers know there's something new once a week. Yep...'persistence' is my middle name! No not really, but my peristence has reaped wonderful rewards. And some of these rewards are:

• My BLOG averages around 2,000 - 2,500 visitors per month...and more when there's something really exciting, like an exhibition or a prize to write about. THANK-YOU to all you visitors out there!
• The regular reflection on my work is now a very important part of my art practice. I really enjoy writing my posts and spend a few hours on each one. This process helps me clarify my thoughts, provokes new ideas and generates inspiration. It also means that when I speak about my work, either in a public presentation or a private conversation, words flow more freely.
• I've 'met' some very interesting [and supportive] people who follow my BLOG. Their regular interactions, feedback and comments [either via the BLOG or message] are a great delight and provide catalytic inspiration. You know who you are...and thank you!
• A number of my posts have been picked up by other sites. More recently Scientific America's Symbiartic Science-Art Scumble  Two of my posts have been listed on recent Scumbles ie: Super Heroes and Animals
• Sometimes, when I am out and about, people mention to me that they read my BLOG. This makes my heart sing!
• It is a great tool to have when writing artist's statements. It also means I can direct people to posts, rather than rambling on in an email or letter. My children say I ramble!!

So, to some interesting statistics.

• The most read [popular] post is Airspace and Phantoms...one of my 'quiet activist' posts. See image below!
• The second most popular is Food-A Fantasy In The Future  Another 'quiet activist' post!
• The third most popular is Ouroboros   where I delve into mythology, religiosity and cosmology.
• You can see the full list of popular posts on the right column
• Most of my visitors come from the United States, followed by my home country, Australia.

Airspace and Phantoms Gouache on paper 52 x 63 cm framed

I am working on a new painting...thinking of calling it Time Travel...will see if this feels right when the painting is finished.


NEWS:

Next weekend 1-2 September I have a number of paintings in an exhibition at the Nindooinbah Woolshed exhibition, which will be opened by well known Brisbane art dealer Bruce Heiser  Here's a link to the various ways [cocktail party, high tea, general entry] you can see the exhibition. Nindooinbah is a well known historical homestead near Beaudesert, which is about an hour south of Brisbane. Below are three of the paintings which will be in the exhibition:

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100

This painting was in the Directors' Cut online exhibition for the Blake Prize 2011

Finding The Light Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

 

Sap of Life Oil on linen 55 x 80 cm

MORE NEWS

Tattersall's Landscape Art Award: I have again been invited to participate in this award and exhibition. The prize money is $25,000. The award will be announced Wednesday 5th September. The exhibition will be on display at Brisbane's Tattersall's Club until September 8, after which it is moved to Waterfront Place, 1 eagel St, Brisbane from 10-21 September.

Also, my entry into the Santos Acquisitive Art Prize in Roma has been selected as a finalist. Entries had to reflect upon the 'benefits of La Nina- the abundance that follows rain'. As regular readers know, rain and water, have been important themes in my work for a long time. The prize is announced 31 August.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

ETERNITY'S BREATH

Eternity's Breath  oil on linen 85 x 150 cm

This new painting above relates to a recent small work on paper called All of Us [below]. Please read my previous post HERE

In All of Us the 'shadow' of the tree represents variously, all history, geneology, human race evolution. The trees in Eternity's Breath also represent variously, all history, geneology, human race evolution, but they also 'speak' of the viscera of existence encompassing all physicality, emotionality spirituality...eternity. The trees evoke the appearance of lungs and the rythmic movement of breath...inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale.

After attending Prof Paul Davies Brisscience lecture a few weeks ago I have been imagining the expanding universe reaching a point where dissipating energy no longer propels spatial or temporal extension. The universe then starts to recede until a state of mammoth spatial and temporal compression causes another Big Bang, and time and space are flung into creation again. This ongoing expansion and contraction is the inhale and exhale of universal breath. 

Regular readers will identify the use of my much loved age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. The trees in Eternity's Breath create a 'scape' which is both vast and intimate. The trees' branches mirror the capillaries of flesh and blood lungs, at the same time as evoking the 'vascular-like' energy of universal cosmic breath. The figures, humankind, seem to stand at an edge...a precipice...maybe at the point of the exchange between exhale-inhale-exhale. This precipice poses the questions: Why are we here? If we are part of the exhaling universe, what fate lies for us when it inhales?

The oval shapes, full of colour, suggest portals...possibilities...gateways. The 'shadow' tree behind the two figures disappears into one of these colourful portals creating a tension...like waiting for a baby's first breath... or for a dying person's last one.

And, of course trees literally provide oxygen for us, and our fellow animals, to breath. And... we emit carbon dioxide, which trees and plants, use in their 'breathing' process of photosynthesis.

The tree!

All of Us gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm

As I have previously written I am interested in investigating and revealing the potency of the tree-of-life, to find what its symbolism might mean to us in the 21st century. Yes, it has historical significance, but age-old symbols need to be untethered from past historical visual representations to give life to their ageless wisdom. It is up to us to release the tether and journey with these symbols as they weave their way around, and into, contemporary issues and life. I believe the tree-of-life holds potent meaning for us in the 21st century as we grapple with, and are excited by, the ever increasing close and far distances of cosmological research and discovery. I 'see' the tree branching out, and rooting into, the spaces and distances of the quantum and cosmic worlds, meeting us with meaningful ways to understand...and envisage even more...philosophically, scientifically, creatively and spiritually.

Below are two other paintings which 'speak' of breath.

 Breathing Across Time Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm

Breath Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm paper size 52 x 63 cm framed

NEWS

• Tattersall's Landscape Art Award: I have again been invited to participate in this award and exhibition. The prize money is $25,000. The award will be announced Wednesday 5th September. The exhibition will be on display at Brisbane's Tattersall's Club until September 8, after which it is moved to Waterfront Place, 1 eagel St, Brisbane from 10-21 September.
• Also, my entry into the Santos Acquisitive Art Prize in Roma has been selected as a finalist. Entries had to reflect upon the 'benefits of La Nina- the abundance that follows rain'. As regular readers know, rain and water, have been important themes in my work for a long time. The prize is announced 31 August.
• AND the painting below Cosmic Frisson has been purchased for the new Gold Coast Hospital!

Cosmic Frisson oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com