Painting
Poros kolossos (Greek; a journey of very large proportions)
“What do you get if you cross a post - modernist with a Mafioso? Someone who’ll make you an offer you can’t understand.”(1)
Post - Modernistic painting.
How is it possible to generate a completely post - modern piece of art work?
I think post - modernity relates to some thing that is based on futurism.
Examples of post - modernism, can comprise of any object, writing or image.
A good example is a type of film categorised as science - fiction. These films
which span over forty years, have all related to or are inspired by futurism.
In generating visualisations of futuristic world union’s, galaxy colonisation’s
and space travel of epic proportions. These visionaries have created post
- modernity in film. Another example of post - modernism, is philosophy. Philosopher’s
who can comprehend a meaning to why we exist. If we exist at all. If the true
meaning of life is that we are all connected to a machine that programs are
lives for us.
Ok, so how do you relate that to painting?
It is possible to incorporate similar ideas of futurism and philosophy into
the concepts of painting. You can depict world’s in distant galaxies
or completely different universes. You can incorporate narratives with meanings
that relate to post - modern philosophy.
My work is attempting to do this. I have purposely incorporated post - modern
ideas of futurism and philosophy. The title of this series has a hidden meaning
that is conceived as post - modern.
Composition and background
The distinctive perspective cues are designated from photographs of underground car parks. The initial plan was to sketch out the first photograph and then sketch a second photograph of a different view over the top. Thus, repetiting the recurring theme of the forth dimension. I have spent time researching into renaissance painting, in particular Leonardo da` Vinci’s work ‘the Last Supper’. I was interested in the composition and how the perspective cues directed the viewer’s attention to the central narrative, that being Christ. The focus of this particular work is to take the viewer’s eye to the back wall, (two thirds of the width of the painting). This area is the most important part of the composition of the work.
(1) Hanley Richard, ‘Simulacra and Simulation, Beadrillard and the Matrix.’
www.whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com under philosophy of the matrix.
The background incorporates ideas of abstract - expressionism. By having three
colours blended together in an expressionistic manner. The purpose of the
background is to articulate empty space. I was attempting to capture a gas
format. Its purpose is to help the viewer activate the sub-conscious, and
to carry the idea of perception awareness; epistological thinking, what is
real? I hope the viewer would ask the questions, where am I? What is this
place?
Narrative
To activate viewer awareness, I incorporated a narrative in which the viewer can explore the true nature of my work. Metaphorically, the columns in the painting are rips in the fabric of space and time. Wormholes, in which the viewer can transport to a different time line, space or different universe altogether. Imagine the viewer has been transported into the painting and is standing on the edge of one of the orange lines. This space is no longer restricted in the way the gallery space might be. But, it does have its own restrictions and rules. This place is the forth dimension. Three - dimensions are over - lapped by the new dimension. We are restricted to three dimensions in our reality. That means we are governed by the laws of physics in such a way that we are restricted to what we can do. The rules in this universe are the following.
1. The viewer can only walk along the orange lines and enter the portals
via the orange lines.
2. The viewer can not step into the coloured gas.
3. The sole purpose is to exit via the red section.
The narrative continues further by the viewer entering another room via the red section. Ideally the next painting in this series would be the red section.
Philosophy of series Epoch Terminal
“Samsara Buddism; teaches the world in which we live our daily life’s
is constructed only from the sensory projections formulated from our own desires.”(2)
I have always believed we can control our destination through making life changing decisions. Cross roads in life are decided by the individual, not by some cosmic force. If you have a desire in life to become someone, then every impulse towards that goal will be significant. Whether or not destiny unfolded that impulse, that’s debatable.
(2) Samyltia - Nikaya IV, 54. In Edward Conze, ED. Buddist texts through the ages (New York; Philosophical Library, 1954), p. 91
I like to think I am in control of my life. Through my desire to become an
artist as a young child, I have become one. Through gaining a desire to confront
the fourth dimension, I have done. I wanted the viewer to relate to my ideas
on a personal level. I developed a narrative in which tries to establish a
connection between the viewer and work. But, I wanted a deeper level of communication
with the viewer and work.
Transporting the viewer from the gallery space and into the abstract fourth
dimensional space of the painting ‘poros kolossos’, is philosophical.
In terms of realisation of other dimensions and alternative realities. These
other dimensions may or may not exist.
Buddist beliefs inert the realisation of another place you may travel to after
death. Zion is a word synonymous in Judaism as the heavenly place.
What if the after life consists of a higher dimension reality?