2d

painting is dead – long live painting

drawing is dead – long live drawing

star see survey

Star study is a diagram to read the night sky in 3d [spatially] using the southern cross [crux] constellation.

The Southern Cross is an asterism formed by the brightest stars in the constellation Crux.
It is the most familiar star pattern in the far southern night sky. The asterism carries cultural meaning and significance in many countries in the southern hemisphere. In Ptolemy’s time [circa 100 – 165 CE], Crux was part of the constellation Centaurus. It was visible to the Ancient Greeks, but by 400 CE, the Earth’s axial precession lowered the Southern Cross below the horizon for most of Europe – making it unseen north of about latitude 26 degrees north.

Composed of five stars it is the smallest constellation in the sky. The stars are:
Gacrux (Gamma Crucis)
Imai (Delta Crucis)
Ginan (Epsilon Crucis)
Acrux (Alpha Crucis)
Mimosa (Beta Crucis)

The Southern Cross has a key role in navigation because it contains two first magnitude stars [Acrux and Mimosa] and Acrux with Gacrux point in the direction of the southern celestial pole. Acrux is the 13th brightest star in the sky and is a double star [binary star], that orbits each other and appear as one. Mimosa is the 20th and Gacrux the 25th brightest star in the sky. Generally the sequence of star brightness is clockwise from Acrux, however, the star see survey project records the perceived brightness sequence, since it is expected to vary.

Perception is complex. The star see survey project is an activity to see the night sky in three dimensions using the southern cross constellation as a proto test of the theory and to refine the tools [the diagram and the telling of the story]. The invitees are tasked to place themselves in a dark environment [zero or low level of light pollution], taking the narrative provided and recording the results. The shift from seeing the night sky as a dome of stars on one plane [graphically] to perceiving/imagining the stars in three dimensions [spatially] is a reformation.

alcove

Located 34.8320°N 67.8267°E, the two Buddhas of Bamiyan were c.570 CE and c.618 CE statues in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan – the time when the Hephthalites ruled the region. On 2 March 2001, the Taliban began destruction of the statues that lasted several weeks. The alcove remains.

Located 22.6175°S 117.1577°E the 46,000+ year old Juukan Gorge rock shelters were permanently destroyed on 24 May 2020 as part of mine expansion of Brockman 4. In 2014, the site was classified as ‘cleared’ for mining and removed from relevant risk registers, with ministerial consent under Western Australian legislation. Prior to its destruction, the site had been excavated in 2014 with the remains/artefacts stored at Rio Tinto Dampier office, in north-west Western Australia. The value of iron ore accessed from the area following the blast was AUD $135 million [2021].

The notion of alcove, recess, staging and protection [harbour] is pondered where the overarching [philosophical] structure becomes the fount of a work. A work does not go in, it comes out of that structure.

airmaker

cell study

encaustic on canvas: reflection upon the first forms of cellular life that required self-assembled membranes – prior to LUCA

dog [otto] drinking stars

gestalt series, indigo dye on paper

LUCA series, indigo dye on paper

encaustic

pigment and wax

bad imaging

acrylic, gesso, pigment and oil on glass

artwork area 920mm h 608mm w
gallery frame black 1140mm h 820mm w

1990 – work in progress
series of 12 heads, 5 complete, 1 destroyed in flooding event and 1 in forklift mishap.

oil and acrylic/gesso on glass [head 6 contains salt]
artwork area 920mm h 608mm w
gallery frame 1140mm h 820mm w

ephemera halo drawings at 39 studio. Foamed concrete dust, broom/brush, rake and vacuum

“…see the Southern Cross? It is not flat, like on the flag. See the brightest star – at the foot of the cross? and then the two less bright – the top and left stars and then a lighter star – and then the palest. Now pull the brightest star closer towards you and the paler stars further away to make it 3d. If you can do that, then do it to the whole night sky. It is being under hung lights. Once you see it you cannot go back to seeing the stars as a painted dome over your head”

an explanation to thomas [11],