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/