My work recently has been focused on moving away from the human scale and moving into a more monolithic mode of address and the incorporation of multiple forms of media, mixing painting, writing and filmmaking. The visual elements of my work have been exploring large natural structures in space, namely stars, which are at the edge of intuitive human understanding. The written sections of my work are concerned with creating narratives that relate to and supplement the visual. Art and science are expressions of the same trait: creativity. Reconciling the differing languages through the use of scientific images and themes within an artistic context is at the core of my work.
Over the course of the year the work has moved through different forms of media, all with the central image of the sun. The main sources of inspiration for the choice of using such a universal image were David Bowie’s album Blackstar, Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Solaris, and Olafur Eliasson’s installation The Weather Project, because these projects, whilst having deeper themes and concepts, all have strong, simple images at the centre of their design. From this point, the more sophisticated concepts can be inferred through the fine details.
Editing the star photo negatively plays with the basic colour theory of the visual implications of images of the sun: the original, positive version implies life, energy and familiarity. The negative version implies the opposite: death, coldness and strangeness. This strangeness plays in to Freud’s concept of the uncanny, with relatively simple changes causing a large alteration to the reading of an image, setting up cognitive dissonance within the audience: the form is recognisable, but the colour is not. This dissonance also occurs in the geometry of the image. The shape is a simple circle, yet it is an incredibly complex structure made up of unimaginable quantities of matter with chaotic patterns marking its surface.
Early works incorporating this image included a video art piece projected onto the roof of the gallery space in which 5 similar images faded into each other (Sun) and a short film projected in a more traditional manner (Dark Star). These works were a good way to experiment with unconventional presentation, the impact of scale and loose narrative structures. The choice to then progress to painting was a decision made primarily because I wanted to give the work a texture and physical presence that I don’t believe video installation or film possess. Making the star in a physical medium gives the piece a texture that is more apparent to the viewer than the form of a projected image.
Having made work in multiple mediums during the year, the final piece will involve a painting, a video piece/short film, and a written element. The aim is to create a mixed media piece that that ties its individual elements together despite it’s separation in the gallery space. The piece will expand on the themes explored in the previous iterations: the uncanny, the connection between humanity and nature and the association of art and science.