Into Other Worlds
For the last two years, I’ve been living on the edges of society, creating...
Creating on the outer edge of society, combined with the remoteness of my artist camp, can feel a bit like living under a rock. So it was nice to get the call from Merilyn at Country Arts SA inviting me to create a commissioned work to embody their five-year plan.
Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of Thoreau, Nietzsche and Carl Jung which had only strengthened my resolve to live slowly, simply and with intention. For this commission, these elements were essential to include as was the challenges that I, and many artists I know, face.
Out the back of my artist camp, there’s a section of ridges that drew me in, upon my arrival a year ago. The challenge working within this gorge was the hot light pouring in through ridges while leaving other areas blanketed in darkness and shadow.
To complete this mammoth vision the landscape, in this case, just wasn’t going to be enough. To this end I invited Kasia Tons, a soft sculpture artist, to join me for three months to build and construct this ambitious plan.
TO LIVE DELIBERATELY
Nestled between wrapping spinifex, enveloped by opposing elements, a vibrant lone artist sits transfixed, all consumed, by a paramount process of discovery and determined expression.
The reality of the regional artist is often filled with traps and pitfalls, coupled with oppressive waves of non-additive elements of distraction, and yet within all of this a quiet calmness remains as the artist searches fervently for pathways and opportunities.
To have arrived at this point of stillness, focus and creation, a plethora of obstacles have needed to be overcome on a regular basis; financial sustainability, access to goods and services and living face to face with the ever-changing weather.
Out of this existence, a resilient fortitude is born, enabling the creation of pathways toward Nietzsche’s true worlds theories. The ability to live within these worlds, requires a deep focus while nurturing an undiluted practice from external noise and distractions of the external fast-paced and often meaningless world.
Throughout the process, the figure itself begins to wear the mark of a regional artist, the red dust a mark of endurance, reinforcing the process and the practice instinctively.
