Jamin

Kinetika VII: Umwelt, 2019, assemblage (wood, paper, LED light), approx 2.4m x 5m x 5m (HxWxD)

This work explores a condition of identity that is fugitive in nature – that of a persona – the experience of shifting and mutable roles and contexts framed as an array of literal and metaphorical masks. This condition is explored through lenticular stencils, termed ‘masks’, to produce disruption patterns that encourage an active and dynamic interplay with the observer, resulting in a tension between the virtual, the real and the actual. The mask is observed to be a material-semiotic actor in a network of relationships that enables the performance of camouflage. Camouflage is the strategic relating (an active process) between an entity and the parts of the world to which it belongs or dissociates; a fluctuating of the senses between sharpening and blurring that produces an experience of the world that is particular and partial – an umwelt as defined by Jakob von Uexküll. This framework proposes that identity is not to be understood as a static, fixed entity but rather as the product of a series of events or performances that are constantly in flux, as defined by Giles Deleuze in The Logic of Sense (1993). This work employs machine-cut layered stencils, or ‘lenticular masks’, that interfere with human gestalt perception, producing a real and granular encounter with emergence; a becoming real through the interaction of systems, one territory opening onto another, an active and dynamic performance of camouflage. These shifting apprehensions of pattern recognition allow for a new understanding of identity; one that is in a state of active camouflage, a fugitive in the mask of a persona.

The Death of David Walsh, 2013, synthetic spray paint and acrylic paint on perspex, 150 x 150cm

Artist’s statement::

This painting is more death-mask than portrait. Walsh’s death, as an inevitable event, will invoke reflection upon his legacy: including his own speculation on the death of another (Artist Christian Boltanski). It may raise the question: if we, as individuals, were to possess Walsh’s level of wealth, what would we do with it? Where does altruism end and narcissism begin? At what point does give become take, or push become pull? La petite mort? The highly reflective surface of the painting places the viewer in-frame: inviting self-reflection, speculation on the timing of death, or maybe just an opportunity to fix one’s hair. The image has been gouged out of the rear of the acrylic sheet using wire brushes attached to power tools, digging holes, being abrasive. In fact, it was made ‘blind’ with its face to the wall; the first time it was possible to view the work was after it had been completed. Is a life like this? There is no retreat in this process, every mark is recorded, and nothing, truly, is buried.