UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

The Beginning Of Everything: Remembering Distance Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm

Untethering landscape...what do I mean by this? Well, in this age where astronomers are finding new planets and other celestial bodies/phenomena, and scientists who delve into nanoworlds are discovering equally as amazing phenomena, tethering 'landscape' to images bound to Earth is pretty prosaic! We live in a world where the reaches of distance are phenomenally expansive in their vastness, whether it be into the infinity of outer space or into the seemingly ever increasing spaces of the nano/pico. And, as regular readers will know, I 'see' these distances mirrored in the vast intimacies of the human psyche. I like the paradox suggested by vast intimacies! It helps to turn things upside down and inside out!

So, landscape tethered to images of what we literally see may seem a little unadventurous! For me, landscape goes way beyond what I might see with my eye of eye ball and pupil. In a way, what we literally see, places us outside the landscape where we are observers, rather than participants or even better, resonances of the same star dust. Landscapes that search for and become the distances, whether close or far, of those elements beyond what we literally see reveal the resonances of the star or cosmic dust that is in everything.

Landscape painting or rendering [with any medium] has a capacity to remind us that we are intrinsically part of the landscape, part of the memory of life's first flutter, part of the compulsion of existence. If we see and feel this we'll understand the need to nurture our physical, emotional and spiritual environments in ways which embrace the connectivity of all across time and space. The landscpapes that spring to my mind when I think like this are certainly adventurous! They are not mere representations or copies of what's literally there. Instead they propel horizons, tease perspective, collapse difference, search inside imagination for cellular memories of the beginning of everything. All existence is paradise!

Cosmic Dust Oil on linen 120 x160 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/09/cosmic-dust.html

This painting is in my current exhibition PARADISE [Details below]

Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize 

This exhibition has now been moved from the Tattersall's Club for public viewing at Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St, Brisbane CBD. The exhibition will continue there until Friday 23rd September. More details at this link: http://apq.com.au/Text/1312866207576-3978/

My painting The Beginning Of Everything: Remembering Distance Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm [Above] is in the exhibition. Here's the post I wrote at the time of painting it. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/beginning-of-everything.html

Paradise Oil on linen 62 x 82 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-is-your-paradise.html

 

MY CURRENT EXHIBITION

PARADISE

@ Purgatory Artspace

170 Abbotsford St

North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

61 3 9329 1860

purgatoryartspace@gmail.com

Exhibition Dates: 8 September - 8 October

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 am - 5 pm

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AND Please come to:

MY ARTIST'S TALK

 

KATHRYN BRIMBLECOMBE-FOX

IN DISCUSSION WITH ART HISTORIAN

Dr. CHRISTINE DAUBER

Saturday 24 September

2-3pm

@ PARADISE

Purgatory Artspace

Light refreshments afterwards

Not so much concerned with the entertainment value attributed to popular culture, this artist’s work grapples with the ideological issues which haunt global politics today and seeks to express bonds of commonality rather than the disparateness of race, religion or politics. To this end, her images utilize an iconographical language that is global in its dimension. Her thematic use of arboreal imagery provides a point of access which crosses both histories and cultures to collapse the difference between east and west.
Christine Dauber Ph D. (Dean's Honours) MA, BA Honours (Art History) University of Queensland

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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

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Youtube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/kabrimblecombe?feature=mhee

HOPE IN THE DISTANCE

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



This painting is the one I wrote about in a recent post. I was still working on the painting at the time, but I shared my inspiration, which travelled from rain in the distance, to hope, to literal and metaphoric horizons. Here's what I wrote:

I am working on a painting at the moment and my ideas have revolved around issues of water and rain, plus what they represent at emotional and even spiritual levels. Regular readers will know that water is of great interest to me and that it has been a sub theme within my broader interests in perspective, distance and the space between the micro/local and macro/global. Overarching all of this is my compulsion to explore the potential of archetypes to perhaps reveal universal connections that mean something to us in the 21st century.This new painting which I am currently working on, is essentially about hope. I am calling it 'Hope In The Distance' because it is, at first glance, a painting of strips of rain on the horizon.

When I lived in Western Queensland, strips of rain would appear on distant horizons, often cruelly tantalising us with the potential for much needed rain. But, horizons, as metaphors for our lives cascade into so much possibility, because as I have written before, horizons can be both close and far. Our eyes, of eye ball and pupil, see horizons as existing in the far distance, but our eyes trick us, because we are essentially always present upon horizons which exist at all universal and nano distances around us. Our mind's eye can 'see' these multitudinous horizons so much clearer than our eye of eye ball and pupil, especially if we discard one dimensional and simple notions of distance and perspective.

I am reminded of a quote I used in my artist's statement for my show 'Distance' in London in 2002. The quote is from Walter Benjamin's Illuminations where he describes aura as, the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. The word 'aura' has new age connotations, but I think, whether we know it or not, we are all searching for an experience and an understanding of aura. Maybe this is the unviversal search and that at each era, the agelessness of archetypal symbols offer clues to a discovery or a depended understanding of aura. We just have to keep investigating their potential. I think the investigation may require us to rely more on our mind's eye rather than always relying on our eye of eye ball and pupil...the two need to work together questioning everything.

My thoughts about multitudinous horizons have given me glimpses of the phenomenon of aura! These glimpses slip away as I try to grasp an understanding, but my hope is that as I discard old ways of 'seeing' I might come to a fuller experience of aura. Indeed, as we live locally in an increasingly globalised world, we are all actually forced to collapse notions of distant horizons, as we experience contemporary life. I suppose the hope is that the experience is understood as being potentially transforming in a positive way for all humanity.

MORE
'Hope In The Distance' Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm
The tree-of-life creates a land formation which seems like a mountain or a hill in the foreground. The branches of the tree suggest underground systems of water, minerals, roots, animal burrows etc. The five strips of rain fall from a potent sky of red and blue. These strips of rain represent hope, hope of sustenance. As an aside, the current floods 'out west' will provide deep subsoil sustenance and replenishment of underground aquifers for some time, but the devastation of homes, infrastucture and livestock is brutal.

Yet, this painting got me thinking about things beyond rain, drought and floods. It got me thinking about connections. The strips of rain are like conduits connecting earth and sky, body and soul, mind and God. The tree-of-life transcends the material, by imposing its true potential, which is the fullness of life...of humanity. In this way the immediate suggested horizon vanishes, because humanity encompasses past, present and future. All three of these time phases are horizons in a sense, but when experienced simultaneously horizons disappear, perspective evaporates and distance has no meaning.

TO REMEMBER
FRISSON Solo exhibition
Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthry Rd, New Farm, Brisbane
EXHIBITION DATES: 16-28 March [***From 1pm-6pm Tuesday 16]
OPENING NIGHT: Thursday 18 March 5.30-8 pm
Gallery is open daily 10 am -6pm ***

SOME NEWS
I went to the inaugural TEDx Brisbane on Saturday 6 March http://www.tedxbrisbane.com/ It was really great and certainly generated some ideas worth spreading.

HORIZONS

Frisson Oil on linen 84 x 147cm 2010

The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2004


I am working on a painting of a woman with trees growing out of her feet, hands, head and heart...and I am taking a moment as I walk away from the painting...I need to let it breath and for me to let go some frustration. Yes, this is just part of the process, the ebb and flow, the toooo and fro...and so on. It gives me time to 'see' the painting with new eyes when I go back into my studio [well garage!]. It gives the opportunity of a distance which reveals.

So, while I take my breathing moment I thought I'd write about the painting I uploaded in my last post. The painting is called 'Frisson' and whilst I wrote a post with it as the only and lead image, I did not write anything about it. Instead I wafted on about recipes for a frisson........

As you can see I have reloaded 'Frisson' and have uploaded an older work called 'The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye'. As I was reviewing my image files I noted, or felt, that the same sense was evident in both paintings. With 'Frisson' I wanted to create a soft, shimmering painting, and I wanted to experiment with using purple and yellow, and all the tones in between. I wanted the frisson feeeling to be one of tingles, a missed heart beat and luscious anticipation. I have to say though, the painting took a lot longer than a nano-second of tingles or a missed heart beat! But, I am happy with the meeting of soft colours, as if distance has melted upon the horizon, heralding the darkness of night and the inevitable rising of a new day. I also think the meeting of colours is like the momentary light brush of someone's hand or lips...yes someone you really like!!! It also whispers the flutter of angels' wings!

I have used my much loved tree-of-life to create the sense of a life force, as if tingles are travelling through a vascular system.

' The Hidden Seen In My Mind's Eye' is obviously an older painting, but I think it also heralds the new day as we witness the softness upon the horizon. I am very fond of this painting and I am surprised it has not sold as it receives a lot of attention when people see it. Obviously THE right person and THE right situation have not happened....yet!

I have mentioned horizons a few times in this post. As regular readers of my BLOG know, I often use landscape elements as metaphors. To me an horizon can also represent our own horizons, limitations, fears, goals, etc. Once an horizon is reached it disappears as other horizons present themselves... and they need not always be in front of us. Reaching an horizon can engender an 'Ah Ha'... or looking back from where we came can also shock us with an 'Ah Ah '... a revelatory kind. Horizons that we see with our eye, of eye ball and pupil, need to be mediated with those horizons we cannot see, because all horizons disappear once reached. We need to be able to imagine what is beyond the horizon. This imagining is imperative in a global world in which we live locally to ensure we are compassionate towards ourselves and others.

Cheers,
Kathryn