the space between is the region that is always left undefined in equations of [non]equality, for example:

internal vs external
local vs national vs global vs universal
individual vs generic
glass vs mirror

in other words, the opposites or contrasting elements are well defined, and yet when they are compared, that comparison is described in terms of the objects, rather than the space between them, which might be thought of as the third element in the equation; the operator vs is actually an object in itself…

and perhaps it is really more interesting than the things placed either side of it, because it describes the way things are, as opposed to simply stating that they exist. (surely why something exists is more interesting than what it is…?) so the relation between things has substance, something meaningful… and so, perhaps the objects themselves do not [have substance], because how can both be true?

~

first notes for installation, mar 2010

space between (suspended)
objects hanging on nylon thread in grid pattern above reflective surface [1]
2010

space between (suspended)
objects hanging on nylon thread in grid pattern above mirror [2]
2010

space between (suspended)
reflective surface: mirror vs water in container
2010

space between a picture on wall and the floor, wire / nylon thread
2010

space between a photograph and abstracted line drawing
2010

space between objects glued together, the space between buildings…
2010

symbols are like whispering faces in the fog. they cannot tell you the truth because the truth is unspoken, but more than that, the truth is unrealised. these symbols are in themselves like shifting sands, they are not meant to be pinned down like insect specimens, they are formations of truth in the same way that crystals are expressions of atomic structure – with purpose and design yet unthinking, natural.

i had a dream the other night and one part of it was seeing all these strange mathematical symbols and equations, hugely complex, describing simple things. but there was in this the idea that every simple thing (and therefore everything) could be described in this way. but the equations were so complex, and blurred, as if impossible to focus on.
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we do not see things, the image we see is not the one on our retina, it is the image inside, which is a different thing, coloured by emotion, memory, our other senses of this place (heat, smell, sense of environment), and unknown fields of conceptual thoughts, tangents… so the complete image is defined by presence.

therefore to treat a photograph as something real is to discard reality and replace it with a false skin.
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vagueness, contradictions, doubts

i want to escape words but i’m finding it very difficult. i don’t particularly want to be part of any age, but that too is very hard, it is not just the post-age to contend (be content) with but all the pre- ones that are piling up like bricks in a wall… i just want to find a timeless present, some peace and quiet.

the theme that is struggling to make itself visible is not quite a paradox, not quite a mathematical negation: the sense of denial and affirmation at the same time:

- i want to deny history, deny my subscription to any age, (i want to react, even though i have already convinced myself that revolutions are impotent);
- i want to respect and understand history, i want to be a part of this age and the next.

truth is a spiralling self-referential thing, perhaps best left alone. all ages seek meaning, in that sense there are no ages, they are just evolution of word-structures. but we have this need to make sense of everything, and our starting point is always words and images; occasionally we step back and ask ‘is there an alternative?’ but then almost as soon as this question is framed, the words come flooding in, an unrelenting struggle to make sense of thoughts that we still doubt are framed internally as words.
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hospital walls (green photo)
digital c-type print, 40 cm x 30 cm
2009

most people know hospital walls. probably all of us will have been within these walls at some point, past or future. so in some way these walls define us, bring us together, whether in happiness, sadness, hope or hopelessness. it is a lot to expect from art to capture this, possibly an impossible amount. but a belief in art is a bit like a belief in life, irrational but unavoidable at the same time. art might not save us but that doesn’t mean it is worthless.

when i sit in hospitals there is above all a sense of suspended doubt; someone somewhere within these walls will inevitably be born and everything is new to them, or they will die, and everything is new for the people they leave behind. most of the patients will save their moment in here and will live for another hour, day or years. hospital walls confront the passing of time and its inevitability.

there was not enough time and at the same time, it seemed like time was taking too long.

and you look at the hospital walls and if you have any sense left after sitting here for hours whilst all this is going on around you, you realise that you too will die, but you can’t make any sense of it, and then you remember how a place like this is constantly bringing new life into the world, or saving life, but still you can’t make any sense of it. i can’t describe describe hospital walls without memories…

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fog
22 Jan 2010

sadness is some thing that permeates this world, infuses it like a fog. philosophy abstracts it, turns it into a property of language, invents names for it. but there is no way to escape it by understanding how it is defined because it has no substance, nothing you can take hold of and mould. belief comes closer, in seeing sadness as something real but by the grace of God also something from somewhere else, as if it is a divine property that is put upon us to be embraced and absorbed, so that we can be forgiven. but there is no way to release grief in guilt, forgive ourselves for something that we cannot separate out because it is an irreducible part of our lives.
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in a world that simply exists, an existential world, loneliness would have no meaning, there would be no cold nights and no warm days, there would be no pure acts of nature.

the problem is not if God exists, because knowing that answer would in no way solve the problem of our existence in this present moment. therefore there is just us and the cold night and the warm day. what will our answer to this be, the realisation that there might be nothing and that nothing is also our true nature? will it be a descent into chaos?
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10000 [1]
digital c-type print, 40 cm x 40 cm
2009

10,000 photographs, reduced to dots of light. have all these souls become equal, points on a uniform grid? some are missing… what has happened to these lost souls?

» gallery

nov 2009

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quantum random number theory
Gicleé print, 75 x 75 cm
2009

The ‘quantum random number theory’ image uses a stream of random data to visualise and explore the idea of randomness as a representation of absolute purity; 90,000 black and white dots representing the random 1’s and 0’s of the source data arranged in a 300 x 300 grid.

Subsequent re-workings of this image explore how structure and complexity might arise from this random mist.
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doll (moiré) 1
ink on paper, 42 cm x 59.4 cm
(unframed, there is ~10 cm empty space between edge of paper and image)
2009

« download large jpg »

reduce the nude to a fundamental representation [reducing the elements exposes the soul]. the photograph flattens the image leading to a unification of object and background/environment – in doing this, substance/solidity is removed (made transparent) so that only ‘form’ remains [form/force lines]. the complementary process to this is the merging/layering of substance which removes form (bodies transform into mist/gaseous state).
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