CURRENCY OF WATER

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

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

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

Oh....and I have a few paintings in a group show called 'Layered' at Joshua Levi Galleries, 4 Ipswich Rd, Woolongabba, Brisbane opening 6 pm on 4th June. The show will continue for about 10 days and is a group exhibiton of gay and non-gay artists celebrating Brisbane's Pride Festival theme of ONE Community.
Cheers,
Kathryn

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