‘One and not the other’ 2015
(Series of 9 sculptures)
wax, leaves, dirt, natural matter.
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In his book ‘Art as Therapy’ (2013), British-based philosopher and writer Alain de Botton observes : ‘Throughout the history of art, artists have seen it as their task to represent their experience of nature. This has often taken the form of creating an image of some part of the natural world that has especially moved them.” (p 156).
In the realm of contemporary art, the relationship between humans and nature is more often than not, problematised in some form or another. From climate change to industrialisation to contested ideas of wilderness and the value of nature to humans. However historically the discussion of what it means to be human was largely in conversation with how we position ourselves with and within nature.
Whilst art is not in itself a new environmental rhetoric, it serves a purpose - to show us how a philosophical thought is integral to sharing of the Earth, especially in the constantly-evolving Anthropocene can be communicated and understood in an compelling, tangible way.
Within our contemporary world and ever-concerning crisis of climate change we are constantly in a state of redefining the way we look at earth. The state of the natural world in this Anthropocene, pulls us back to earth to contemplate the material and finite. It insists that we humans - artists and non-artists - should redefine the ways in which we look at and perceive ourselves within the world.
Sharing a similar insight to photographer Burtynsky, who talks about how “We come from nature…” (edwardburtynsky.com; n.d); Performance artist Marina Abramovic asserts that "The big problem of our modern society is that we feel that we are separated from the nature. But it's just the opposite. We are interrelated and our DNA is the same. And only when human beings understand that, the nature will not be obstacle.” (pbs.org; 2012)
These observations were enlightening and integral to the realisation of my ideas for this body of work. Rather than to further explore the relationship through ways in which I have previously - through literal modes of visual engagement, I wanted to explore more tangible aspects of ‘coming from nature’ (edwardburtynsky.com; n.d) and the the way that ‘our DNA is the same.’ (pbs.org; 2012).
Australian artist Bonita Ely describes such avenues of engagement with these aspects in relation to her own practice: “….modes of engagement with concepts and ideologies of nature - it is not to be found in the romantic visions of nature as a sacred object, nor as an imbrication of rational data. Rather, it is to be sought in a state of personal encounter with the materiality of the earth itself.” (Croggon, N; p 47).
Drawing largely on Rosenkranz’s work with flesh tones representing the human, I am attempting to navigate previously explored concepts of human/nature dualisms, the body of work takes on this weight through a largely more aesthetically poetic avenue. It seeks to offer a suggestion of a paradigm of mutual and receptive co-evolution - synthesis between humans and the environment through materiality.
The works are somewhat grotesque in their materiality - wax mimics skin in it’s colour and leaves and dirt emerge from within the wax surfaces. The elements are combined. Like reality, both realms are malleable despite their seemingly solid architecture. Both are complementary yet both will deteriorate with time - wax with heat and the leaves without water will not go. The two will shift and change together though, and within these works they exist as one, and not the other.
References:
Burtynsky, E. (n.d). EDWARD BURTYNSKY. [online] Edwardburtynsky.com. Available at: http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/
Croggon, N. (2010). Bonita Ely's art of ecology. Art and Australia, (48), pp.44-47.
Pbs.org, (2012). Viewer Q&A: Responses from Catherine Opie, El Anatsui, and Marina Abramović | Art21 | PBS. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/art21/season-6-features/viewer-qa-responses-from-catherine-opie-el-anatsui-and-marina-abramovic
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