AN ALTERNATIVE TO PERSPECTIVE-Inside the FRISSON

Frisson Oil on linen 85 x 147 cm

As I think about perspective [and regular readers will know I think about this a lot] I am beginning to 'see' something which both excites and frightens me. This sounds like a frisson feeling! Anyway, I am beginning to 'see' in my mind's eye the collapse of perspective as we have come to know it ie: as a linear and a point of reference to gauge space and distance, in both the literal and metaphoric contexts.

Our globalised world forces us to dance on a stage which exists between the multiple wings of the global and local. Before exploration of the globe, humankind's world view was physically limited to the immediate locale. The development of perspective from utilising simple size reduction on a spatial plane, to 1 point perspective in the 14 th and 15 th centuries, to 3 point perspective with the arrival of photography, mirrors the expanded knowledge and experience of the physical world via exploration and science.

However, is perspective, as we understand it, limiting our ability to negotiate the contemporary stage? As we live locally in an increasingly globalised world, we actually need to harness and embrace multiple perspectives simultaneously. It is in this experience that I 'see' the disappearance, the collapse, the annihilation of perspective. At the very least perspective, as we know it, becomes impotent when confronted with the need to immerse ourselves in the experience of simultaneous distances ie: from pico to universal.

As I wonder about this, I cannot but help to think about the global financial crisis. This experience very clearly illustrated, and continues to illustrate, that we are all connected. In November 2008 I wrote a post about the looming GFC. Here's the link http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-implosion.html In this post I commented on the insidiousness of post-modernsim's distortion into a propensity to slip and slide between creating seductive fantasy and playgrounds where rules are made to be broken.
The slippery slope into narcisistic tendencies helped create the 'house of cards' which collapsed when sub prime loans defaulted enmass and credit rating agencies scurried for cover.


However, I 'see' all of this as part of an evolutionary process. Post modernism had to happen, because, in a sense, it has allowed us to experience moving perspectives, fantasy perspectives, simulated perspectives and I am sure you can think of a whole lot more! Was post modernism's agenda to loosen our hold on perspective? But, is the experiment over? Do we now need to annihilate perspective and come up with an alternative, that allows us to experience simultaneous distances?


The pendulum of experience can take us to extremes. At the extreme end of each arc of the pendulum there exists an unhealthy point that compels and propels the pendulum to take the opposite move. One could say this movement back and forth creates energy, but I think we also need to imagine the pendulum on a 3D plane rather than a 2D plane, because the latter can very easily get stuck in a groove. Maybe postmodernism has tried to push us off the known groove by falling and imploding into an unhealthy state? Maybe it was, and is, imploring us to think more holistically and multi-dimensionally? Now isn't all of this both exciting and scarey? But, its worth it because I think compassion may well be the big winner!



Pendulum Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2007

Anyway, I have fun thinking about all these things. I have even more fun letting them errupt onto canvas and paper.

FRISSON Oil on linen 84 x 145 cm
The painting above registers the almost meeting of perspectives. There is a small space or gap between the two colours and the branches of the trees-of-life, but its size is no clue to its enormous capacity. It is like the moment before a romantic kiss...especially the first with someone new! The colliding of senses makes time seem to stand still, yet both excitement and fear couple in majestic anticipation. This is how I 'see' the the world today. This painting will be in my solo exhibition FRISSON opening next week. The DETAILS are:

FRISSON @ Graydon Gallery, 29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane

EXHIBITION DATES Tues 16- Sun 28 March Open Daily 10 am -6 pm [Tues 16 from 1 pm -6 pm]

OPENING Thurs 18 March 5.30-8pm

Cheers,

Kathryn

DISTANCE-LESS-NESS

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

Detail of as yet untitled painting I am currently working on.

The two images above are close-up details of the painting I am currently working on. This painting is a further investigation of my ideas which I explored in 'In the Garden of Eden' which was the subject of my BLOG post of August 5 . http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/08/garden-of-eden.html Again the tree-of-life and the tree-of-knowledge are pivotal motifs, but like 'In the Garden Of Eden' I have included Adam and Eve ,who for me, simply represent humankind. The crossing over of the two trees creates and reclaims the feminine symbol of the sacred Yoni which meaningfully implies the feminine within all.

In the new painting I have painted Adam asleep. In the bible story he was put into a sleep state to allow for the extraction of his rib to form Eve. Following is a quote from my August 5 BLOG post...."She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him." [Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary] Eve eternally shares a part of Adam just as Adam also experiences the feminine. The absent part of his rib represents Eve's presence within. Absentia does not mean lack of inclusion. With these thoughts in mind culpability for the Temptation ascribed soley to Eve seems rather lame or perhaps opportunistic.

It has been suggested that the Bible story actually does not record Adam ever waking up, thus posing a very interesting proposition. In fact, is life an illusion or a dream? Are we Adam's dream into which we are propelled in order to sort out the big questions posed by the battle between good and evil [error]? This proposition opens up a myriad of questions which go to the core of existence...and not just in this human dimension. This is the power of myth.

This brings me to a very interesting post on the Elightenment Next BLOG http://blog.enlightennext.org/?p=1723 The post includes an article called TRUE JIHAD by Elizabeth Debold. She suggests that the true jihad is, in fact, the battle of the ego with the spiritual potential within us all. I quote, 'The truer, greater meaning of jihad refers to the battle for the utter liberation of the spirit from the tyrannical nafs—the unconscious motivation in the human psyche that insists on separation and division. The nafs—or ego—is the ultimate terrorist, changing disguises with shape-shifting ease, scurrying within the labyrinth of the mind, setting off explosions of fear and rage, never quite visible until war has been declared and a warrant for its capture, dead or alive, has been issued.'

I have previously written on the BLOG about the role of myth. As time goes on I have an even great sense that misplacement of myth ,which I believe is largely a result of post modernism's slippery decline into narcissism and glorified pastiche, is a far greater loss than we may have realised. For me, myth is a conduit to the inner sanctums of the spiritual potential within us all. Myth will take people places that are undreamed or unimagined until they are awakened. And, upon awakening there is the potential for more discovery. Post modernism forces a sense of sitting outside with enticements to enter, but upon entry it slips away. This, of course is its arrogant subtefuge, because it knows that if discovered there is nothing there. Myth, on the other hand, beckons with its depth and confident potency. I have written about post modernism @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-implosion.html

Debold, in her article True Jihad admits to the role of post modernism when she says, 'In my postmodern arrogance, I assumed that the great traditions lacked the sophistication of our modern psychological understanding. But, increasingly, I am coming to understand that it is our contemporary view that lacks depth because, so often, it blunts the sharpness of distinctions that give dignity to the human struggle.'

I am particularly interested in Debold's arguments about ego. I won't go into a broad discussion about it, but I will make some comments with reference to art/artists and ego. Readers of my BLOG would know that I have previously written about ego with reference to my experiences exhibiting in the Middle East and the conversations I had with people who came to my exhibitions from all over the region, Africa and Eastern Europe. As a result of these conversations I realised I do not complete my paintings. They are, in fact, completed by every conversation they stimulate. These conversations can be internally with oneself or with others. Thus, my paintings have the potential to have multiple completions. When I realised this I had to consciously let go of my ego, because I recognised that a part of me wanted to hold onto the meaning of my work. Yet, when I thought about it, each person I had had a conversation with drew more from my work than I had initially ascribed. In fact, by holding on I was a limiting factor. By letting go, I feel free and I know my work is free to do whatever its potential is.

What struck me was that the tree-of-life motif was the element which drew people into conversation with me. This transcultural/religious motif needed no explanation, yet I had used it in non-traditional ways. The willingness of people to share their dreams, hopes, ideas and sometimes despair with me was very humbling. Yet, it was really the power of one motif which opened up the commuication. This motif is intrinsic to many stories from across religions and cultures. This motif has helped my understand the importance of myth.

So, for me myth is timeless and eternal. Through myth we can find rich pathways to the inner sactums of our spiritual potential. If this is the case, then time seems inconsequential. And, as I have written before, if time does not exist then neither does distance and space. Maybe myth is a way to distance-less-ness where axiomatically there are no limits to Myth's capacity.

Kathryn

PS: I should finish my new painting in the next week.

PPS: This painting has been preselected for the $15,000 Manning Art prize announced 19 Sept http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/05/angels-wings.html

AFTER THE IMPLOSION

                                                                      Sharing The Spaces

                                                                    After The Implosion

I started writing this [below] for a letter to a newspaper, but it got too long...so here it is for you instead!

THE IMPLOSION
Media commentary on the global financial implosion is peppered with key descriptive words which have seemingly gone unscrutinised under the deluge of blame, fear and doom reporting and rhetoric. Words such as ‘bubble’, ‘magical’, ‘fantasy’, ‘unreal’, ‘dreamland’ and ‘nothing’ describe the antithesis of reality, yet they hold clues to identifying the underlying motivational [albeit not necessarily conscious] reason for the financial and economic turmoil which has swept swiftly throughout the globe. This reason goes beyond Gordon Gekko’s simple and obvious greed.

Over the last twenty to thirty years postmodernism's distortion into slippery yet seductive narcissistic tendencies and a love of simulacra has insidiously infiltrated many of society’s institutions via memetic means. Narcissism is characterised by a self worship, which proclaims a right to flout rules and regulations, at the same time as making them up for others, who abide only to find the rules change in a nano second, or they are so complex multiple interpretations confuse. Narcissism’s passive-aggressive qualities dupe people into thinking someone cares making sympathy a tool to emotionally colonise the poor, underprivileged and powerless. Conversely the latter [along with everyone else] succumb to the narcissistic seduction by believing they can have a house, a car or whatever without concrete obligation.

The slippery and swift manoeuvring of ‘dud’ deals into packaged ‘investment’ entities to offload onto someone else is narcissism’s game, aided and abetted by simulation. The simulated experience is also seductive because an escape to a fantasy world where everything is available and abundant seems possible. The sub prime debacle is an example of simulacra vanishing in the face of ‘authentic’ experiences of ‘real life’, one example being interest rate rises. The debacle whipped the rug from under narcissism’s feet causing the economic ‘house of cards’ largely built from more simulacra to collapse.

Society’s core values have been hijacked by the underbelly of post modernism’s narcissistic inability to share. Lack of emotion, except for selfish and sensationalist emotional displays designed to manipulate, is a characteristic of narcissism. In varying degrees this behaviour is part of normal teenage development, so perhaps the crisis is a wake-up call to grow up! The world currently has deeply bended knees. The hope is that when the world jumps it actually moves and does not land on the same spot becoming the arrested teenager. The latter is unlikely because the crisis is very serious and the need for new paradigms supported by core values which embrace the experiences of a world where globalisation has collapsed the distance of difference is obvious.

The implosion could be seen as an inevitable aspect of post modernism’s demise and simultaneously a sign of burgeoning new paradigms which collectively have yet to be named [and possibly even identified]. Within the artworld artists, academics and theorists have been contemplating the question of ‘what’s next?’ for some time. In this way the artworld can be seen as a barometer for detecting, reflecting [and sometimes affecting] change well before the broader community is aware that failing structures are actually heralding something new. Hopefully whatever is ‘new’ will retain the best of postmodernism including its creative insistence to stretch boundaries to test whether what seems impossible has real possibility.

Art’s agency is its potent ability to be reflective, yet at its weakest this can merely scaffold existing paradigms. Art’s less obvious agency is its ability to be affective albeit not deliberately so, otherwise it falls prey to restrictive and prescriptive didacticism and purpose. Flexible skills in perspective are needed to negotiate or dance across the contemporary ‘stage’ which exists between the global and local ‘wings’. Art's agency is its potential to provide experiences with multiple, distorted, unexpected perspectives both literally and metaphorically.

Perspective of others and self is enabled by contemporary life which is about living locally in the increasingly globalised world. Thus, perspective gained by experiencing multiple viewpoints creates a [potential] space/place where compassion for self and others can flourish and be shared in dignified, equal and mature relationships, negotiations and transactions in all areas of life.

Healthy self-interest becomes a compassionate urge at a micro level knowing that it wants and needs to positively affect the community or macro level. World leaders and the general population must re-build foundations based on underlying compassionate principles taking into account the individual and the collective. For this to be effective it needs to be done without wasting time on blame and retribution because basically we all passively [through ignorance and disinterest] or actively played in post modernism’s illusory playground where ‘bubbles’, ‘magic’, ‘fantasy’, ‘unreality’, 'dreamland' were the games [albeit at times very enjoyable games].

All good things must come to an end and whatever happens next will ultimately implode/deconstruct/die to make room for the necessary out-picturing of evolutionary urges.


Image above-After The Implosion Gouache on paper 25 x 18 cm 2008
This work on paper was inspired by the possibility of something new happening in the aftermath of implosion. The 'new 'errupts in a way which whilst not necessarily identifiable is possibly detectible by the very existence of implosion. I have used the spiral to reference my interest in Don Beck's Spiral Dynamic Integral theory. http://www.spiraldynamics.net/

Sharing The Spaces Gouache on paper 21 x 30 cm 2008

Spaces are created when we have perspective literal and metaphoric. The distance in these spaces can be close or far, spatial or temporal, conscious or unconscious, material or spiritual and so on. These spaces are not empty.