Speed
Speed
'That was a painting flying by, sorry you just missed it'.
Acrylic and Gouache on Board - 563mm x 228 mm x 18mm with hand spinners hanging separately.
The spinners are 20 mm across the disks and made from 3 mm MDF wood, painted with acrylic paint and ball point pen
and strung with black waxed string.
Nine spinners were made.
Year - 2000.
'That was a painting flying by, sorry you just missed it'.
Acrylic and Gouache on Board - 563mm x 228 mm x 18mm with hand spinners hanging separately.
The spinners are 20 mm across the disks and made from 3 mm MDF wood, painted with acrylic paint and ball point pen
and strung with black waxed string.
Nine spinners were made.
Year - 2000.
The painting is called 'Speed' and was exhibited at a group show at Uxbridge Art Gallery in Howick, Auckland. New Zealand.
I worked on the painting in 2000 when I was questioning the rising stress and speed of life for most people. It seemed to be a beginning of change, a transitional stage in human history, which we are well into now. As we move from a fossil fuel/consumer -induced society to hopefully a self-sustainable, environmentally friendly, conscious way of living.
The work consists of one main image painted on one sheet of wood and it has detachable spinners, which go with the work.
The spinners are the same as a child's spinning disk game where they hold a stringed disk across from one hand to the other and twirl it so it twists and then by pulling it outwards tightly the disk spins rapidly to reveal the illusion of the two images on either side of the disk forming into one image. In my work the spinners act as a metaphor, demonstrating the two sides or directions the human race could go either positive or negative, on/off, zero's and ones, but when spun fast it shows a joining of the two sides,
a collaboration and a flux.
Could this be why the human race is speeding up?
The French philosopher - Jacques Derrida's criticism of tradition of defining identity in terms of binary oppositions such as black/white, culture/nature, man/women, et cetera. The tendency now is to see identity as non fixable and in flux, as being caught up in what Derrida calls - 'difference'.
To me, by looking at this non fixable, in perpetual flux state and an acceptance of 'difference' are we not actually acknowledging a celebration of 'sameness', 'is'ness or oneness. Like the spinners going from two binary opposites and blurring into one.
From form to formless.
An awareness and acceptance of what is, right now. Made up of perpetual 'now's.'
With the likes of Eckhart Tolle and his book - 'The Power of Now' which is inviting us to think about spirituality, consciousness and awareness in a new light, devoid of religious labels. He talks about how everything and everyone is apart of each other. Our ego and thoughts are what divide us or take sides when actually our thoughts are an illusion like clouds passing in the sky and what is in the space between is a stillness, an awareness of how we are all connected. I feel at present both ego and awareness are operating at the same time but as the human race becomes more conscious this balance will tip towards awareness and acceptance.
The comment written on the painting - "That was a painting flying by, sorry you just missed it" is questioning the need for speed and the side effects of it. If the saying - 'When a body reaches its absolute peak it then collapses into its opposite' is true then perhaps this need for speed is the peak we are building up to, to make us then realize what we are missing out on in the process.
To take in what is around us and look into the depths instead of always skimming over the surface and not really seeing what is below or even right in front of us. Moving from unconsciousness to consciousness!
And although I think it will take humanity a few more attempts at achieving this, I do feel this is our ultimate goal. To become one universal consciousness before we yet again reform and move out into the universe and separate into many again.
A constant breathing in and breathing out.
The bird and birdcage spinner I made as an experiment came from watching the movie 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. They had a scene in this where Johnny Depp was spinning a bird and birdcage. This is what gave me the initial idea for my own work.
I worked on the painting in 2000 when I was questioning the rising stress and speed of life for most people. It seemed to be a beginning of change, a transitional stage in human history, which we are well into now. As we move from a fossil fuel/consumer -induced society to hopefully a self-sustainable, environmentally friendly, conscious way of living.
The work consists of one main image painted on one sheet of wood and it has detachable spinners, which go with the work.
The spinners are the same as a child's spinning disk game where they hold a stringed disk across from one hand to the other and twirl it so it twists and then by pulling it outwards tightly the disk spins rapidly to reveal the illusion of the two images on either side of the disk forming into one image. In my work the spinners act as a metaphor, demonstrating the two sides or directions the human race could go either positive or negative, on/off, zero's and ones, but when spun fast it shows a joining of the two sides,
a collaboration and a flux.
Could this be why the human race is speeding up?
The French philosopher - Jacques Derrida's criticism of tradition of defining identity in terms of binary oppositions such as black/white, culture/nature, man/women, et cetera. The tendency now is to see identity as non fixable and in flux, as being caught up in what Derrida calls - 'difference'.
To me, by looking at this non fixable, in perpetual flux state and an acceptance of 'difference' are we not actually acknowledging a celebration of 'sameness', 'is'ness or oneness. Like the spinners going from two binary opposites and blurring into one.
From form to formless.
An awareness and acceptance of what is, right now. Made up of perpetual 'now's.'
With the likes of Eckhart Tolle and his book - 'The Power of Now' which is inviting us to think about spirituality, consciousness and awareness in a new light, devoid of religious labels. He talks about how everything and everyone is apart of each other. Our ego and thoughts are what divide us or take sides when actually our thoughts are an illusion like clouds passing in the sky and what is in the space between is a stillness, an awareness of how we are all connected. I feel at present both ego and awareness are operating at the same time but as the human race becomes more conscious this balance will tip towards awareness and acceptance.
The comment written on the painting - "That was a painting flying by, sorry you just missed it" is questioning the need for speed and the side effects of it. If the saying - 'When a body reaches its absolute peak it then collapses into its opposite' is true then perhaps this need for speed is the peak we are building up to, to make us then realize what we are missing out on in the process.
To take in what is around us and look into the depths instead of always skimming over the surface and not really seeing what is below or even right in front of us. Moving from unconsciousness to consciousness!
And although I think it will take humanity a few more attempts at achieving this, I do feel this is our ultimate goal. To become one universal consciousness before we yet again reform and move out into the universe and separate into many again.
A constant breathing in and breathing out.
The bird and birdcage spinner I made as an experiment came from watching the movie 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. They had a scene in this where Johnny Depp was spinning a bird and birdcage. This is what gave me the initial idea for my own work.