2.14 - Painting 2011
2.03 - Deliverance

Organs of Special Sense - How to Describe the Shining, Upon the Dreaded Loam

The images in this category portray the transference of light between two worlds. The 'dreaded loam' of the title refers to the bony substructure of the head; the works describe its reflective qualities when subjected to the luminosity of dreams.

Radiant Conductor (each 65x55cm)
The same light that emanates from the imagination reflects back from the surface of the head, projecting a mirage of the dreamt lands from which the light originates. Therefore, the works describe a radiant conductor that generates its own light source.
 

In some images, a barb of light extends from the surface of the head, connecting a state of lower consciousness to a higher realm. At times this connection is depicted as a bolt of inspiration or an eruption of outgoing thought, which exhausts its own energy as it transmits. It may leave a blackened burn-path or charred remnants in its wake.

The atmosphere for many of these works was influenced by the mythology described in Astronaut Figures.

   



 To Frozen Grounds (CROP?)
(160x80cm)
Works throughout this series continue the theme of Transmigratory Passage of the Death Wish.

In 'To Frozen Grounds', the division of the various stages of the journey is more distinct. The lower scene uses the analogy of an incoming tropical storm as a state of emergency from which the noble soul must take flight. This scene is a development of the barren wasteland of the deserted head in previous works. It evokes a 'season of fevered senses' from which the noble soul departs like an astronaut to the higher realm of frozen grounds. 

An enormous burnt stick traces his path. He passes through the hollow space of a frozen sun, which is like the after-burn of image retained in the eye after staring at the actual sun.

 

Through the Break of Day(170x110cm)

I have described the bay of Melbourne as the ground plane of the picture. The sun reflects from the surface of my head in the form of a bright golden barb. 

This has been disconnected by the spirit who flies up through the break in the remaining day. Here it will be replanted in the burnt ground above.

 

 

 

The Alerted Agent Is Witness to the Dying Light
(183x117cm)
This is another work that describes the radiant, reflective qualities of the skull. This sensitivity was referred to previously in works that portrayed ghost cliffs.

This is a large work that depicts the subconscious projection of the skull as if it were a beacon or distress signal.  The bony substructure of this head rises and turns to witness an interior twilight. 

The dying light is caused by the disconnection of radiance from the surface of another head sinking beyond the horizon. I chose to represent this disconnection as being caused by an outward-bound shadow, as if the isolation brought about by the departure of other remote souls predetermined darkness.

 

 

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