Download files
Abstract
Is it any longer possible to have an objective knowledge of reality? Is there a reality
outside of the mind? In a world where the virtual is replacing the ʻrealʼ, where
surfaces are more important than depth, meaning is further hidden or obscured.
But this has not led to an absence of meaning, rather an uncontrollable proliferation
of meanings, a world of multiple interpretations and glimpses that we know are not
fact.
My research paper is an exploration of the indeterminate nature of reality in the
post-modern age and an attempt to examine whether, after accepting some of the
key premises of post-modernist theory, there is indeed any prospect for meaning
and reality to ʻfigureʼ in art. The concept of perpetual liminality, as well as chaos
theory are examined and utilized in the creation of the work to signify the impasse
engendered by the post-modern condition.
Over the course of the last few years, I have developed a visual language of
symbols and patterns based principally on the motif of the grid and the cross.
Through this visual language I engage with ideas of invisibility, uncertainty, and
concealment. My work also examines notions of threshold and boundary that can
formally be represented by fences or screens, liminal in essence, they create a
paradoxical space, concurrently on the outside and the inside, belonging to both
and neither. Fences and lattices in my work represent the boundary between the
known and the unknown, allowing us glimpses beyond whilst simultaneously hiding
that which is behind. In my research I examine how the techniques and processes I
utilise represent a search for meaning from the liminal standpoint I find myself in
and question whether through this process of ʻseekingʼ I am able to move beyond
the post-modern condition of profound superficiality. It is about a desire for
signification and meaning yet framed by the constant presence of doubt.