Offering - Introversion
The first image displayed here is titled ‘To Let the Blindfold Lead the Way’, and it measures 1.5x1.2m. The following two images are smaller, measuring approximately 90x70cm.
Paintings on this page present the shape of a head that resides inside the mind. The emergence of a 'secret identity' from a hollow head is a direct continuation of the works displayed in Awake. Works within this group present the spirit within the house of the head as a puppet-like protuberance, peering out to witness the outside world.
I imagined that I might sense the presence of an interior being within the confines of the head, just as I had once produced drawings interpreting the topography of the surface of my skull. The pictures depict the form of the inner head that arises from the receptacle of the skull as an amorphous being without fixed identity.
This was an attempt to create a sense of revelation to something anonymous, like trying to visualise my face from the inside. The 'masked' forms developed of their own accord, the patterned construction informed by intermeshing the illusion of starry light forms that are seen behind closed eyes.
The adjacent painting shows the shadow of the innermost mind as a deep-rooted entity that sees in the dark.
This is a shadow as the body of the soul, actively engaged in the workings of the mind.
The notion of someone 'behind the scenes', observing and participating in the interpretation of sensual perception, was explored thoroughly in a previous body of work, Mind's Eye.
Other small paintings show variations of the growth forms of the face within the head. They relate specifically to images displayed in Undergrowth, created the previous year.
These final two paintings depict the merging of external surfaces of the head with the interior consciousness. This creates combative interactive energies that take the form of 'hand horns' that reach out into the external environment (as explained in more detail towards the end of Noble Beast). The image on the left is staged as a conversation between two entities, so that their dialogue is seen as the butting of heads and the locking of antlers.
Explore this theme
1. Introduction
2. Noble Beast
3. Introversion (You Are Here)
