Genius Loci

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art, drawing and photography research, education, environment, fly, inspiration, microscope, nature, philosophy, photography, quotes

“Critical art is an art that aims to produce a new perception of the world, and therefore to create a commitment to its transformation. This schema, very simple in appearance, is actually the conjunction of three processes: first, the production of a sensory form of ‘strangeness’; second, the development of an awareness of the reason for that strangeness and third, a mobilization of individuals as a result of that awareness.”
― Jacques Rancière, Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics

New work – Genius Loci

This digital photomontage takes the image of a fly’s compound eye, magnified 150 times, I photographed this using a scanning electron microscope.  Inserted ‘inside’ the eye is  a window of an old farm building that intrigued me with its dark interior and a small rectangle of light on the opposite wall.  It an image of hope.

What do you see?

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Preoccupation

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art, communication, computers, hidden impacts, inspiration, moss, nature, philosophy, photography, quotes, science

“To communicate is to be alive, to be active, in relation with others…For communication is essentially an interchange, a question and a reply, an action and a reaction between an individual and the environment in which he lives.”

Maurice Fabre      A History of Communications

Our preoccupation with computer technology creates a symbiotic relationship that endorses a dependence on staying in touch by harnessing electronic media as the vehicle – but is this preference an opt-out or opt-in for meaningful dialogue?  Text messaging, emails, blogging, social networking using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc all require writing and yet our literacy standards are going down – is the power of the written word changing to mere elemental levels?

Does the sequestration of  technology limit our ability to communicate with our environment and therefore inhibit our understanding of the natural and untamed? The irony of posting this on my blog is not lost on me but the query is a genuine one for a dialogue on the subject – what do you think?

The image below was taken of a fragment of moss using a scanning electron microscope at the University of Central Lancashire during my residency there. The digital montage features computer mice collaged onto the photograph to mimic the seed pods growing out of the plant.

The work was shown as a research drawing for my Beautiful Dystopias exhibition in Preston last month.

Infatuation

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art, computers, hidden impacts, photography

Deep inside a minute piece of lichen, evidence of our infatuation with the electronic screen is compounded with a family of historical figurines absorbed in the wonders of the pictorial rectangle.This digital photomontage was made using the scanning electron microscope, during my residency in University of Central Lancashire, to capture the beauty of lichen when magnified 160 times.

The piece was shown at my solo exhibition last month  –  Beautiful Dystopias.

Changing Places

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being human, philosophy, photography, quotes, travel

“Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.” ~Seneca

Rooted Sanctuaries

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inspiration, nature, philosophy, photography, quotes, trees

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

Hermann Hesse, Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte

… their roots rest in infinity

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art, drawing, drawing and photography research, environment, philosophy, photomontage, quotes, trees

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.”

― Hermann Hesse, Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte

Drawing: montage using foundation photograph 800x magnification of granite core brought back from China, digital handwritten text, photograph inverted of found dead tree, raven drawing.

Seeking a Broken Home

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being human, consumption, degradation, drawing and photography research, found, home, inspiration, materialism, photography, waste

Fascinated by the abandoned, the derelict and the broken shelters that were once called home by someone. Symbolic of our temporary obsessions with possessions their short-lived, nurtured existence stand testament to our way of living.

Do we treat our real home Earth any better?

Anyone at Home?

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drawing and photography research, home, photography, rural

Still looking for a home … my eye is drawn to deserted ramshackle rural buildings to lay my hat.

Going nowhere

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art, philosophy, photography, rust

If we accept the old cliche that life is a journey full of paths, bumpy roads, motorways and some dead ends – and that occasionally there is a mirror to help you see round the blind corner. How does it make you feel if the mirror has fallen off and only the post is there?

And then there is the broken off sign…what does that mean?

Broken Home

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drawing and photography research, found, home, inspiration, photography, rust

Looking for a new nest?

Is our home a place of refuge from the outside world?

But what if the world was our home, where is the refuge then?

Room with a view….and a well used basin!

Drawing Home

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art, drawing, drawing and photography research, found, home, rust, sculpture, stencils, wacom tablet

Drawing for research for new sculpture ‘Home: 3 bed semi’.

Utilising found rusty bed springs as stencils and nails as masks to create the nests I sprayed paint building up the layers. The image was completed with digital drawing using a wacom tablet.

Bridging the Gap

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art, inspiration, photography, research, tsunami

In Newcastle and Gateshead yesterday visiting exhibitions at the Hatton Gallery and Side Gallery.

Side Gallery had the impressive exhibition by documentary photographer Dean Chapman.

Tsunami: Archaeology of a Disaster: explores the aftermath of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It marks the second anniversary of the catastrophe, which came on March 11, 2011. Three months later Dean traveled down the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, photographing devastated communities that he had previously documented in the summer of 1999. He photographed again in autumn 2011 and 2012, capturing the widespread damage and loss, as well as the slow, methodical clean-up and reconstruction. The exhibition brings together work from all four journeys. (Extract from Side Gallery).
I took this photo as one of my friends walked across the bridge between Gateshead and Newcastle.