Master of Visual Arts / Studio work The Postgraduate Degree Show is held from 6PthP December 2005 to 17PthP December 2005 and my work is installed in the Sculpture Studio (as a gallery space) at Building 29 of Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney. There are three installations of work, each with a series of paintings and object-models. The media I am using are oil on canvas for the paintings and wood for the models. The titles of my exhibition pieces are Project Studio (Stairs), Project Rented Room (Chair), Project Rented Room (Bed), and Project Object. Together they are entitled Project: Spanning the Space of Dislocation. The project explores the perception of space and its representation through painting and installation. The starting point is the image of familiar architectural objects to which I displace the experience of it from one site (my painting studio) to another (the gallery space) through painting as index. I use the technique of ambiguous linear forms in painting and the reflexive reading of orthogonal projective planes in installation to further extend the viewer’s perception of space and objects. The aim is to show that space has a meaningful relationship to objects and bring about a renewed awareness of habitual practice in seeing and representing space. UResearch paperU I have divided my research paper in two chapters. Chapter one explores the issue of spatial representation through ambiguity of simple linear forms and painting as index. My concern is on space being less important to objects in the distinction between space as ground and object as figure. Within this chapter I argue for an extended and a reflexive mode of seeing and representing space and objects instead of for a ground-figure contrast. By mapping my experience on a usual working site and displacing it to another space, I show that my perception of space is extended such that the boundary between the familiar and foreign (that is, space-object distinction) is blurred. Chapter two explores the method of presentation through painting and installation in a gallery and addresses the viewer’s space of perception with the work. I also discuss possible reflexive readings on the projective planes of the work which further extend the perception of it.

This project is an investigation of visual illusions created through the interaction of light on different surfaces and structures. Illusion implies deception - an optical illusion, in a sense is misunderstood information that creates a 'false' visual reality. This project incorporates macro and non-macro photography to generate illusion through scale and shape. Through deliberate acts of deception the images play on the human desire for mystery. It is through the 'eye of the imagination' that the images reveal themselves. The photographic images are of dioramas created on the top of a light box, using everyday substances and materials such as glass, felt, coloured transparencies, detergents and liquids of varying consistencies. This project reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary. The outcome of this project is a photographic body of work, the product of my experimentation and research, in which the ambiguous content of the composition, compels the viewer to their own interpretation. Translating some of the resulting images into a three-dimensional light based installation of an illusory nature invites people to take on a participatory role, furthering their experience with the artwork. This project makes us aware of our role within the experiential process, ma king us appreciate and question its very nature.

The gallery has always sparked an expectant feeling of forgetfulness in me, whether I am an unsuspecting viewer or conceiving of an installation for a particular space. More specifically, entering an art gallery evokes a feeling of being in between the safe, assured and comforting feeling of knowing, and the completely lost and vague feeling of having my mind turn blank. The moment of entry -- if I could slow it down and clearly perceive my heightened expectation -- is like going into a room to get something but forgetting what Im looking for. I liken the experience to that of going into the basement for something -- not quite remembering what -- and opening a box. It might be the height of summer or above ground there might be three feet of snow. The basement is cool, like always; it is dark, a little damp, in a state of disarray or rigid organization. Within the stacks of boxes there are the possibilities of finding Christmas lights and water wings alike. Until a box is opened or its label read, the basement is neutral, quiet and waiting.<p>Scrappy the Bandit and the Outlaw Wolf has come to encompass this type of experience: the ambiguity of being both the moment before something happens, and the tucked-away-until-next-year Long Goodbye of an events neatened and tissue-wrapped aftermath. And the heart of this exhibition offers a number of parallel narratives; these are illustrated by coils of pennants seemingly stored away, a perch in which to sit and wait, a shelter from which to make forays, and an oversize toy wolf that watches over the space.

The gallery has always sparked an expectant feeling of forgetfulness in me, whether I am an unsuspecting viewer or conceiving of an installation for a particular space. More specifically, entering an art gallery evokes a feeling of being in between the safe, assured and comforting feeling of knowing, and the completely lost and vague feeling of having my mind turn blank. The moment of entry -- if I could slow it down and clearly perceive my heightened expectation -- is like going into a room to get something but forgetting what Im looking for. I liken the experience to that of going into the basement for something -- not quite remembering what -- and opening a box. It might be the height of summer or above ground there might be three feet of snow. The basement is cool, like always; it is dark, a little damp, in a state of disarray or rigid organization. Within the stacks of boxes there are the possibilities of finding Christmas lights and water wings alike. Until a box is opened or its label read, the basement is neutral, quiet and waiting.<p>Scrappy the Bandit and the Outlaw Wolf has come to encompass this type of experience: the ambiguity of being both the moment before something happens, and the tucked-away-until-next-year Long Goodbye of an events neatened and tissue-wrapped aftermath. And the heart of this exhibition offers a number of parallel narratives; these are illustrated by coils of pennants seemingly stored away, a perch in which to sit and wait, a shelter from which to make forays, and an oversize toy wolf that watches over the space.

<i>In the Stillness of Your Presence</i> is an installation that explores how embodiment can function in creating meditative states and how non-cognitive powers of knowing might lead to a sort of consciousness of a different order. This work brings together poetic contemplation, sensorial knowledge and visuality.

This Master’s Thesis Report is a chronological investigation into the ideas and processes that I have researched and explored during the last three years at the University of Texas at Austin. This exploration has led to a body of work that examines material culture and the way that historical context affects the understanding of the objects and environments of our culture. / text

Master of Visual Arts / Studio work The Postgraduate Degree Show is held from 6PthP December 2005 to 17PthP December 2005 and my work is installed in the Sculpture Studio (as a gallery space) at Building 29 of Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney. There are three installations of work, each with a series of paintings and object-models. The media I am using are oil on canvas for the paintings and wood for the models. The titles of my exhibition pieces are Project Studio (Stairs), Project Rented Room (Chair), Project Rented Room (Bed), and Project Object. Together they are entitled Project: Spanning the Space of Dislocation. The project explores the perception of space and its representation through painting and installation. The starting point is the image of familiar architectural objects to which I displace the experience of it from one site (my painting studio) to another (the gallery space) through painting as index. I use the technique of ambiguous linear forms in painting and the reflexive reading of orthogonal projective planes in installation to further extend the viewer’s perception of space and objects. The aim is to show that space has a meaningful relationship to objects and bring about a renewed awareness of habitual practice in seeing and representing space. UResearch paperU I have divided my research paper in two chapters. Chapter one explores the issue of spatial representation through ambiguity of simple linear forms and painting as index. My concern is on space being less important to objects in the distinction between space as ground and object as figure. Within this chapter I argue for an extended and a reflexive mode of seeing and representing space and objects instead of for a ground-figure contrast. By mapping my experience on a usual working site and displacing it to another space, I show that my perception of space is extended such that the boundary between the familiar and foreign (that is, space-object distinction) is blurred. Chapter two explores the method of presentation through painting and installation in a gallery and addresses the viewer’s space of perception with the work. I also discuss possible reflexive readings on the projective planes of the work which further extend the perception of it.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1998--Hamburg.

Photography is an unstable medium, the repercussions of technological advancement are constantly redefining its capabilities. As an artist working in this medium, I have often found myself wrapped up in existential reflection over my work’s place within the discipline. With At the End of the Spectrum Next to Orange and Opposite Violet, I have narrowed my interests to focus on the phenomenon of light and the manipulation of color. I am creating work committed to the conceptual foundation that light constitutes the experience of a color. I have been working monochromatically to create images and videos in order to explore this idea of color as an experience. Throughout this document my research has opened a new way of thinking about the interactions of light, color, and the viewer.

In this document I shall explain my art process, and reflecting on my work, will explore the themes and emotions that evolved. I shall accompany the images of my MFA exhibition with personal poetic vignettes. These vignettes are memories and thoughts that surfaced both while making the art and while viewing the final exhibition. While the primary experience is looking at and being with my art, I hope these anecdotes and stories give some insight into my motivations and actions as an artist. In these stories I shall use my own voice; I am Scottish and will tend to use local vernacular.