TO GROK LANDSCAPE

Thank Goodness [It's Raining] Oil on linen 92 x 207 cm

To grok is to intimately and completely share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok

 

Regular readers will know of my concerns for the planet, particularly with regards to water and soil. Since I started this BLOG in 2006 I have often written about my concerns, plus the paintings which I call my 'quiet activism'. My more obvious visual statements are made using small $ signs and words to create ambigious 'landscapes', which pose questions about how we 'value' our land, and its live giving and sustaining qualities. In Australia and elsewhere we are witnessing a rush to extract huge amounts of minerals and coal seam gas. Like many others, I am not anti-mining per se, but I am anti rushing into extraction activities without a scientific analysis of the risks to water, food production etc. There are enough scientists, and others with experience, calling for caution to indicate that there are risks...and major ones.

Earth For Sale Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

This painting is created with small $ signs.

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-for-sale-120-x-160-cm-oil-on.html

But, this post is not about mining or coal seam gas or farming. Rather, the paragraph above is a short backdrop for new readers.

TO GROK?

As I ponder the environmental dilemmas confronting the world today, I can't help but think about the manner by which we are connected to land. Yes, we use it, move around upon it, photograph and paint it, some watch it from satelites, we dig into it, we manipulate it for all sorts of reasons. However, I sense we largely see ourselves as separate from it. We are observers, witnesses, users, particpants upon. Yet, what if we saw ourselves as part of the landscape, enmeshed with its ebbs and flows, absorbed into the one pulse of life? What if we were to grok with the land, the Earth?

I suspect that early humans did not differentiate themselves from the land, their environment. From the distance of thousands of years into a future characterised by dilemmas of survival, our forebears' attitudes seem highly evolved.

 Heaven and Earth Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm

How can we return to a early humankind relationship with land, in a way which is reconcilable with their future...the one we now inhabit?

SYMBOLISM

I'd like to suggest that the answer lies with potency of symbolism. And regular readers will know what I am going to write next. Yes! The age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol holds clues, I'm sure, to how we might re-imagine our future relationship with Earth and land...and given modern understanding of outerspace...with the cosmos as well.

I am sure there are other age-old symbols which have the kind of potency that can propel re-imagining forward, as it speaks to the past. However, for me, the tree-of-life holds so much endless potential to re-awaken human race memories of connection and rapport with our environment, its physicality and its spirit. The vascular quality of the tree, speaks of systems...and systems keep us and the planet alive. I'd suggest that systems also ensure the propulsion of the Universe...and possibly the Multiverse! We may not understand, or have even identified, some of these systems, but we know they must exist. As I have writen before I have faith in complexity!

 Radiance Oil on linen 92 x 208 cm

Mountains and Metaphors Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm

PAINTINGS
The paintings I have uploaded for this post are a selection of 'landscape' paintings since 2006. All, but the one immediately above, depict the tree-of-life totally absorbed...grokked...into the 'scape'. It is THE energy at the same time as being THE 'scape'...one influences the other to manifest. The tree, as a symbol of life, is simultaneously a symbol of us and our environment, here on Earth and within the Multiverse.

In Mountains and Metaphors the moutains are symbolic of overcoming adversity.

Into My Galaxy Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

Majesty and Order Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

The Beginning Of Everything Oil on linen 90 x 180cm

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

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FOR EVERYONE: WORDS AND PANTINGS

BOOK UPDATE

Please check out Kris Wampler's great online interview about

FOR EVERYONE

http://kriswampler.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/interview-kathryn-brimblecombe-fox/

Plus

http://www.spbroundup.com/nonfiction/religion

and

http://bloggers.com/KathrynBrimblecombe

and

for book launch details, where to buy etc etc

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/p/my-book-for-everyone-words-and.html

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FOLLOW MY BLOGThank you to everyone who is visiting my BLOG...currently between 2,500 and 3,000 of you a month!

Please FOLLOW me by clicking on the 'Join This Site...Google Friend Connect' button on the right side column. Or submitting your email where it says 'Submit' also on the right column [up the top].

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

PERPETUAL BEGINNING

Perpetual Beginning Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

Change gives birth to beginnings as it heralds and oversees demises of pre-existing conditions and structures. But, aren't we in a space of constant change? Nature provides perfect examples of ongoing change and new beginnings with its cycles and beauty, plus its mutations and adjustments. Beginnings don't necessarily have to be good! Adjustments such as climate change, erosion, desertification etc are not the kind of beginnings we or the planet benefit from. Now we find ourselves in a place where we want, and need, to deliberately affect change, to help the planet. How do we do that? Look to the past to learn lessons? Look to the future with imagination and hope? Indeed, multiple perspectives are necessary, because the existing perspective of current paradigms is prone to regurgitative processes.

In 'Perpetual Beginning' Mother Nature hovers at a portal like place. The flames of a burning tree have multiple possibilities from death and renewal, providing light and energy, to concepts of eternity and spiritual connection, plus returning to the gates of Eden. The spirals quiver with energy and indeed Mother Nature embodies the spiral as she is embraced and energised by it. My much loved age-old  transcultural/religious tree of life offers itself as a symbol of life and hope. As regular readers know, I am interested in exploring how to visually represent the tree-of-life in a way which is meaningful to us in the 21st century. Its core symbology is eternal, and how we represent it releases meaning. Thus, I am interested in untethering the tree-of-life from past visual representations, which meant something to our forebears, but perhaps not to us in the 21st century, apart from being recognised as historically significant.  

Today, in the 21st century we are confronted by major ecological and environmental issues, which compound into social and economic minefields. The tree-of-life, I believe, has the capacity to 'speak' to us today, if we explore its potential as an age-old symbol. Indeed, being age-old certainly qualifies it as a harbour for meaningful knowledge.

Last Friday I had my first experience participating, as a presenter via Skype, in a Sustainable Resource Management class of 86 students from the Technical University in Munich. Their lecturer is interested in stimulating students to seek knowledge and inspiration in myth, music, art, symbolism, poetry etc. Great fun to be involved in something where environmental issues and the arts can inter-connect in ways which hopefully scaffold sustainability!

Indeed, the future is signalled in the past, but time has to pass to see it. Art is the witness.

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MY BOOK!

FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings

Avialable as a boo and an e-book.

FOR EVERYONE- PRESS RELEASE

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/11/prweb8930218.htm

Here's the GOOGLE preview FOR EVERYONE where you can see the first 5-7 pages.  http://tinyurl.com/3uomgvy 

You can BUY FOR EVERYONE from Balboa Press -

http://bookstore.balboapress.com/AdvancedSearch/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=brimblecombe-fox

You can BUY FOR EVERYONE from AMAZON too!

http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Words-Paintings-Kathryn-Brimblecombe-Fox/dp/1452536902/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319755578&sr=1-1

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MY WEBSITE

Please check out my website www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

I have made some new 'galleries'!

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DIRECTORS' CUT

And please check out the Directors' Cut [Blake Prize] online exhibition. My painting Compassion was selected. It is for sale too!

http://www.blakeprize.com.au/galleries/directors-cut

Cheers,

Kathryn

NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST

At The Firey Gate Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

I am continuing to explore ideas of Mother Nature with paintings that behold the feminine essence of our earthly, cosmological and spiritual lives. This exploration expands on my concerns for our immediate environment and my interest in the distance between the vast and nano, whether it be spatial or temporal, physical or spiritual.

At The Firey Gate suggests that Mother Nature is suspended at the gate to Eden/Paradise? Have we sacrificed her? She is us, she is all, past-present-future. What do we need to do to pass through the gate to return to Paradise? Fire, as a purification symbol 'speaks' of change, which can be either forced upon us or actively sought. Surely the financial mayhem, climatic and environmental turmoil we are experiencing at the moment, screams for the need to make fundamental changes to the way we live and operate.

      

North South East West Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

North South East West is titled without commas between the words, because I want no borders or barriers to exist by implication. Punctuation can subliminally suggest border/boundary and thus difference. Yet, each point around the 360 degrees of the compass is a direction. In this painting the female figure, Mother Nature-the feminine life force- extends her reach in all directions, with the vascular-like tree-of-life pulsing within and beyond. She is connected to her physical world, as well as her inner world. She is me, she is you, she is us.

LATEST E-UPDATE:

Please have a look at my latest e-update at this link:

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=859313615340691f5af3cc94b&id=5f60afa09b&e=3cd56fce49

 

FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings

Available as a book or e-book!

My book FOR EVERYONE is available from Balboa Press at:

http://bookstore.balboapress.com/Products/SKU-000458938/For-Everyone.aspx

or from Amazon and other online stores, plus ask your local bookstore.

And, there's a GOOGLE PREVIEW where you can see some of the inside of the book

http://tinyurl.com/3uomgvy

NEW 'GALLERIES' AT

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

QUIVER

http://tinyurl.com/3vqc9ak

MY WOMEN 1990-PRESENT

http://tinyurl.com/3vabc39

UNDER $1000

http://tinyurl.com/675tjeh

Please also check out the DIRECTORS' CUT- BLAKE PRIZE- ONLINE EXHIBITION

My entry into the Blake Prize, was shortlisted by the judges but was not chosen as a finalist.

The Directors' Cut Exhibition is a selection of those works which were shortlisted.
The exhibition is online until 31 January.
You can see all the paintings at:

http://www.blakeprize.com.au/galleries/directors-cut

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

TWITTER http://twitter.com/brimblecombe

FOR EVERYONE

Paradise and Colour of Knowledge are in the background

Before I get to discussing FOR EVERYONE here are two photos of me gesticulating, as I chatted away, at my Artist's Talk, which was on Saturday at PARADISE, Purgatory Artspace 170 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne. Yes, people came! I was very happy!

Art Historian, Dr Christine Dauber led the 'conversation' with some very interesting questions and comments, exploring my use of age old symbols through to my 'quiet activist' paintings about the environment [particularly water and coal seam gas]. Fundamentally, though, I believe, my paintings, through employing and re-interpeting the transcultural/religious age-old symbol of the tree-of-life, agitate for an all-encompassing 'call' to pay attention to environmental issues. As regular readers will know I believe beauty, with its underlying but elided pathos, has the agency to remind us of what we lose if we don't pay attention. Here are a couple of links to previous posts on beauty

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

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/beauty-as-portal.html

And a video on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kabrimblecombe?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/8J_zL8ALnJo

Also, you might be interested in looking at CLIMARTE: Arts For A Safe Climate www.climarte.org There is a wonderful quote, mentioning beauty, by Bill McKibben on the homepage, plus if you click on his name you get taken to an article he wrote in the Huffington Post. Here's his website too http://www.billmckibben.com/ 

And please watch the video, on the CLIMARTE site, of Climarte co-founder Guy Abrahams presenting, on the power of the arts, at a conference in Mackay. www.climarte.org

PARADISE has two more weeks to go. It ends on Saturday 8 October. Gallery hours 11 am - 5 pm Tuesday to Saturday. PH: 61 3 9329 1860  E: purgatoryartspace@gmail.com

Please check out Carolyn McDowall's article about PARADISE

http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/paradise-in-purgatory-kathryn-brimblecombe-fox-finding-light

AND

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

All the paintings, details and prices are on my website online gallery PARADISE

http://www.visualartist.info/visualartist/artist/subpage.asp?ex=gallery&I=1690&sub=5777&artistId=1292&PageId=1690

NOW TO FOR EVERYONE

My book FOR EVERYONE is available for sale!

You can order it through Balboa Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Great For Christmas!...for everyone!

I will be launching FOR EVERYONE next February at Fireworks Gallery, here in Brisbane. I will keep you posted when actual dates are confirmed. I will be exhibiting the 30 paintings in FOR EVERYONE at the launch too.

http://bookstore.balboapress.com/Products/SKU-000458938/For-Everyone.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=1452536902

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/for-everyone-kathryn-brimblecombe-fox/1105497300

Here's a taster for what's inside FOR EVERYONE

Asleep

Why did the slow tortoise and the fast hare race each other?

Steady wins the race, so the moral goes.

But, do mismatched races benefit anyone?

Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com
Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/kabrimblecombe?feature=mhee

PLANET $

Planet $ Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

Well, the title of this painting says it all really! I've painted the 'Earth' with little $ signs. From a distance...say, up in space...you might not notice them. At what distance would they be discernible? And, have we noticed here on the ground? Regular readers will recognise that I am playing with perspective, pointing out the benefits of placing oneself at different viewpoints. But, even better, imagine being at all points simultaneously! That would be amazing. I wonder what it would need for us to be able to do that? Let's imagine! Yes, I do think imagination is the clue. What new knowledge could be created, via an engagement with our imaginations? I've read that Einstein, as a child, used to imagine being on the end of a light beam. We all know where that lead!

So, the painting of our planet, which I am calling '$', has a few underlying themes. The obvious one is the plundering of resources to feed our insatiable desire/need for energy, and all the paraphenalia that is manifested as a result. The other is more subtle. It is the restriction of imagination in ways which we do not notice, via the media, education and technology. The frightening thing is that all three are entwined.

As our planet is faced with a number of rather pressing problems, it might be that they seem unsolvable because we are not engaging our imaginations...and maybe if we are, the hegemonic power of self interested parties quell the possibilities...they have no imagination! I am reminded of JK Rowling's [author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series] excellent Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association, when she said, ' I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.' http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination 

Does it take bravery to be imaginative? Maybe. Does it take bravery to voice or express that which flows from your imagination? Well, yes! Maybe courage and imagination are a couple!?

Regular readers will recognise my environmental stance with regards to 'Planet $', with my particular concerns for water coupled with the potential negative impacts of the coal seam gas industry. In the past 3-6 months there has been a groundswell of protest aganst CSG here in in Australia.

Just a couple of links that might interest you:

http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=9153

http://theconversation.edu.au/coal-seam-gas-a-risk-to-food-security-485

Two aerial views of gas well sites...in case you have not seen what they look like.

http://tinyurl.com/3r2fs5e

http://tinyurl.com/3n7p8fd

And my GAS GALLERY BLOG post

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/gas-gallery.html

And my 'Water and Gas' gallery on my website.

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

FUN AND GORGEOUS 

* Check out my friend Ann's fantastic quilting BLOG.

http://annfergusonquiltopiadesign.blogspot.com/

* AND check out Fred's really interesting BLOG MoneyPlusThoughts where he writes about finance and the economy, plus his interest in art. He is staging an exhibition of his Father's artwork within the next week, and there are some images of them on the BLOG, plus those done by Fred as well.

http://www.moneyplusthoughts.blogspot.com/

* AND, another one, is Ron's Ducksmahal eclectic and popular BLOG.

http://ducksmahal.com/

Cheers,

Kathryn

  

GAS GALLERY

Commodified Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

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

I am back in my studio working on an oil painting. But, it will be awhile before it is finished. I am working towards my exhibition Paradise @ Purgatory Artspace in Melbourne 8 Sept- 8 October. Stay tuned for updates as time goes by.

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PARADISE UPDATE 13 SEPTEMBER 2011:

PARADISE opened at Purgatory Artspace, North Melbourne last Friday.

The exhibition continues until Saturday October 8.

Tuesday - Saturday 11 am - 5 pm

PURGATORY ARTSPACE

170 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne.

61 3 93291860  purgatoryartspace@gmail.com

Check out PARADISE on ARTABASE

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

CAROLYN McDOWALL'S ARTICLE

http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/paradise-in-purgatory-kathryn-brimblecombe-fox-finding-light

AND MY BLOG POST

PARADISE and 3D

ARTIST'S TALK 24 September information too

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/09/paradise-and-3d.html

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Original GAS GALLERY post now continues:

Regular readers will know of my concerns about the impacts of the burgeoning Coal Seam Gas industry [plus open cut coal mining] here in Australia and elsewhere around the world. In the last couple of months public awareness of, and concern about, the industry has increased incredibly. So much so, that the media, politicians and the industry itself are beginning to realise public concern is not coming from just the fringes.

Yesterday a gas well at Daandine, near Dalby where I grew up, blew. Here are two articles about the event. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/coal-seam-gas-well-blowout-near-dalby/story-fn3dxiwe-1226060868637

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/shutdown-threat-after-well-blows/story-e6frg6nf-1226061472839

Events such as these [and this is the 4th leakage, blowout on this property] highlight the risks of this industry, not only to safety, but to the environment, to water, soil and ultimately food production and sustainability. As I have written before, applying the % risk that business is used to, is not the % of risk science would apply to activities with potential impacts on the balance of nature eg: the intricate and complex system that is the great Artesian Basin.

I decided to create a 'Gas Gallery' with a selection of my paintings that have been 'inspired' by my deep concerns. As I have written before this is my 'quiet activist' work. Yes, and it is political. In most of the paintings I use small $ signs to create the image details ie: soil, water, sky etc. The smallness of the $ signs means viewers do not discern them from a distance, but as the viewer moves closer the $ signs become apparent. I am 'asking' the question, "Have you noticed what's happening?'

Cooked With Gas Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/truth-trees-and-gas.html

Underground Currency [Great Artesian Basin] Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/underground-currency.html

$oils Ain't $oils Anymore Oil on linen 80 x 100 cm

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

Detail $oils Ain't $oils Anymore

Salination Gouache on paper

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/salt.html

Salt Eternal Gouache on paper

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/salt.html

Can We Eat Coal For Breakfast?  Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

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

GAB: Great Artesian Basin Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Royalties Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/shift.html

Tendering Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Value Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

Risk Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/09/risk.html

Earth For Sale Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-for-sale-120-x-160-cm-oil-on.html

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/04/political-agency.html

Lifeblood Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm

Well, it is back to the studio for me. But, before I go, I am very happy to report that 2 of my 3 paintings in the Women's legal Service Qld Exhibition sold on the opening night, plus the painting that was included in the Auction.

Cheers for now,

Kathryn

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

POLITICAL AGENCY

Blood Connection Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/02/blood-connection.html

Regular readers of this BLOG will know there are a few subthemes to my work. However, hopefully you have detected that the overarching premise is to help make the world a better place for us all. I deliberately try not to be didactic, because didacticism is very rarely open ended. It attempts to give answers rather than stimulate questions which may lead to answers, and even more questions, we did not know existed.  Didacticism can also be the disguise of more insidious agendas designed to herd opinion in certain prescribed ways. Didacticism can be mistaken as political, but its lack of open-endedness renders it impotent. Its potential agency dies because it is tethered to prescription.

One of the subthemes in my work is identifiably political and hopefully potently charged ie: my paintings dealing with water, soil, mining and the coal seam gas industry. Yet, I hope viewers feel that rather than being told, I am inviting them to become more inquisitive about the various social, economic and environmental impacts of these issues. Once informed, by their own research, they can make up their own minds.

                                                           $oils Ain't $oils Anymore! Oil on linen 70 x 100 cm

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

My paintings do not 'scream' their political agency. They are not attention seeking, in the fashionable sense. From a distance the viewer does not see the small $ signs I use to question 'value'. From a distance the viewer cannot read the small words/quotes I use to create my images. However, when up close, the viewer discerns and sees those things he/she could not see from a distance. I have watched people's reactions when they see the $ signs and words. Many immediately get even closer to check that they are seeing properly. Many walk back to a distance again, and then up closer, and then back again...and so on. Many chuckle and most stay in front of the painting for awhile to contemplate. If I am there they will turn around and ask me questions. Often a long conversation ensues.

 
Regular readers of this BLOG will know that the movement back and forth to view my paintings delights me! Why? Because, I 'see' this movement as the metaphoric 'dance steps' we need to learn if we are to live peacefully, sustainably and productively, in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally. Simply, the distance viewing is the 'global view'; the close up viewing is the 'local view'. In order to see multiple perspectives simultaneously we need to know the 'dance steps' that allow us to graciously and easily traverse the local/global stage.
 
The movement back and forth also replicates the kind of movement an artist makes as they create. For example, I will paint up close and then move to a distance to ascertain a number of things, from the practical, to the aesthetic, to the esoteric. As I paint I am in a constant process of moving back and forth. If we all engage in, and with, our world in a way where we metaphorically move back and forth to see, hear and feel different perspectives, then we are all potentially sharing in the act of ongoing creation.
 

Earth For Sale! Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-for-sale-120-x-160-cm-oil-on.html

Beauty also has a powerful political agency...because it offers hope. Beauty is not superficial prettiness enslaved to the transcience of fashion. It cannot be enlisted by attention seeking sensationalism or gimmacky spectacle, also fashion's exhausting attendants. Neither are spectacular or senstational. Beauty does not deny ugliness and sadness, and this is its potent secret...its pathos.  I have written about beauty before : 

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/03/beauty.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/beauty-and-vortex.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/beauty-as-portal.html
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/beauty-gives-hope-chance.html

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

Phantom Water Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/08/airspace-and-phantoms.html

Regular readers know I am very concerned about issues surrounding the coal seam gas industry, which is burgeoning in S.E and S.W Queensland, as well as other parts of Australia and the world. I am not anti mining per se, but I am anti any kind of activity which puts food producing farmlands and precious water [aquifer and above ground] at risk. From my perception there are enough worrying incidents, in Australia and overseas [particularly the US] to warrant concern. There are also concerned voices calling for caution from the scientific community. I have attended two public forums where these voices have been clearly articulated. The question marks are there and it seems unscientific to proceed without further research. 

I am reading a brilliant, but scarey book called 'The Coming Famine' by Julian Cribb.  http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6447.htm This book coupled with another book I read recently 'Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization' by Steven Solomon http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Water-Steven-Solomon/?isbn=9780060548308 compel me to believe the upmost caution must be taken to preserve water and food producing soils. As a farmer's daughter, and having lived most of my life in rural Australia, I have witnessed farmers embrace more environmentally sustainable practices in ways which enhance productivity. As a student of history I also know that it is both morally and politically dangerous to risk degradation of food producing farmlands. I have written about risk previously. Please see the painting below and the link to my previous post.

Risk Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

 http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/09/risk.html

FROM THE HEART

On the 20th May I have three paintings in the Women's legal Service QLD exhibition 'From The Heart'. I am also one of ten female artists with a painting in the auction. Here's the link to the WLSQ exhibition website where you can see the ten auction paintings and also buy tickets to the event. http://www.wlsq.org.au/sub%20webs/Art%20Show%202011/artshowindex.html

Cheers,

Kathryn

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

BEAUTY AND THE VORTEX

Finding The Light Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/finding.html

I have uploaded some of the paintings that will be in my forthcoming exhibition VORTEX. Here's a short statement I have written for the exhibition:

Solo exhibition exploring vortexes, taking the viewer to cosmological extremes and to intimate spiritual places. The turmoil of the outer vortex, depicted in images of environmental degradation, is balanced by images of the inner vortex where stillness offers a place to listen to ourselves. VORTEX traverses distance by playing with perspective and using the age old trans-cultural/religious tree-of-life as a guiding motif which explores the intimate and vast, both temporally and spatially.

Regular readers of my BLOG will know that I have been writing about vortexes for some time now. The statement above just touches upon some of my thoughts. It is always quite difficult to condense something, one is somewhat obsessed by, into a short statement!

I see VORTEX as being a coherent exhibition with paintings exploring the beauty of stillness at the core of the vortex...and other paintings exploring the turmoil on the outer vortex, particularly in regards to the 'madness' I see happening with CSG mining on prime food producing farmland. AND, regular readers will know my thoughts there!

OUTER VORTEX
Yet, my paintings exploring the turmoil of the outer vortex are not ugly...well I don't think they are! I see beauty as offering hope. I cannot see the point in creating more ugliness or reminding people of it in an unrelenting way. There's enough in the mass media to remind us of the plunderous and degrading activities which the human race has inflicted upon the Earth. Image after image, seemingly imploring for enlightened solutions lose their impact after awhile. We become desensitised and in the process we feel neutered, as if the problems are SO huge there is no way we can make a difference. Now.... this is where beauty has the power to uplift as it reminds people of paradise... that if beauty can still exist, even in imagination, the potential to resurrect any 'paradise lost' is still there.

One painting of the 'madness', which will be in VORTEX, is the painting below, called $oils Ain't $oils...Anymore! This painting questions value by using small $ signs to signify water, soil and coal. It's prophecy is not attractive, yet I feel that beauty still stretches its hand out through the turmoil to the viewer, in a way which stimulates hope rather than destroying it. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/12/oils-aint-oilsany-more.html

As I have written a number of times before, I prefer to consciously elide ugliness. This means that ugliness, and all its contingent erosive attributes, exists in absentia in my work, thus negating criticisms of naivity. Indeed, as regular readers of this BLOG know, I have spent many years living in rural Queensland, and whilst I am not a soil or water expert, I do arrive at this point in my life, with decades of practical experience and observations, which are visually parley in my paintings.

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

$oils Ain't $oils...Anymore! Oil on linen 70 x 100 cm

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

VORTEX CORE

The painting at the top of the page 'Finding the Light' and the three paintings below, were all inspired by my imaginatings of what it might be like to be present inside a vortex at its core. The first time I closed my eyes and imagined the stillness, I felt calm. As I have written before, this stillness offers a quiet where we can hear things we did not know we could hear, see things we did not know we could see, and feel things we did not know we could feel. For me this beautiful sentient place is a place of hope, where the human race may find answers to questions it did not know to ask.

Compassion Oil on linen 100 x 100 cm 2010

                           http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/07/compassion.html

Colour Of Stillness Oil on linen 100 x 60 cm

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

                                                                  Hovering At The Centre Oil on lnen 30 x 30 cm

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

SUPERCONDUCTORS

If art can trigger the collective imagination, to take us to places of stillness where hearing, seeing and feeling things we were previously unaware of is possible, then art could be called a superconductor!

Here's an explanation from http://www.superconductors.org/INdex.htm of what a superconductor literally is:

If art can be seen as a superconductor, we can now think about what might create resistence to render it impotent and inert. Maybe ugliness, in a way which regurgitates mass media's reportage, is one resistor? And, maybe beauty is a potent transistor?

Concepts like this tickle my imagination and have done so for a long time. My Dad is a HAM radio enthusiast and I grew up with electronic bits and pieces, plus our farm was uniquely identifiable by Dad's tall aerials. Our cars were always equipped with HAM radios, Dad made our first TV in the early 60s, and our first record player also. Here's some info for those of you who do not know what HAM radio is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio  AND...One of my brothers is in IT and his current specialty is supercomputing.

In another post I will write about art and its potential to be a superconductor for cultural diplomacy. Unfortunately, 'show and tell' type attitudes are resistors. I draw some of my thoughts from my own experiences exhibiting in London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Seoul.

VORTEX

22 Feb - 6 March 2011:  Graydon Gallery, Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane. I will be at the exhibition daily 10 am -6 pm, so it is a chance for me to chat to people. I had a great time chatting at my exhibition FRISSON in March this year.

Cheers,

Kathryn

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

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