Practice Statement May 2022

Energy Fields I

Art and science converge here through the materiality of painting. Abstract painting and drawing give form to unseen, intangible energies from the Earth. Magnetic energy in the terrain around the Kaipara District, and diamagnetic energy (it’s opposite), found in the limestone geology, provide the current focus for this practice.

Magneto-reception is the ability to detect magnetic fields. In 2019 a groundbreaking collaborative study between neuroscientists, geologists and neuro-engineers confirmed that like bacteria, bats, bees, birds and many other living organisms, some human brains can sense changes in magnetic fields (Kirschvink & Shimojo, Caltech and Matani, University of Tokyo). They conclude this occurs at a sub-conscious level and stated that their next challenge is to bring this ability into conscious awareness.

The practice began as a response to subtle feelings toward certain places and a sense of being drawn to certain geologies in the Kaipara District. The way the unconscious, the senses, and unseen but evidenced energies within the Earth, are actively connected, are key ideas.

Sedimentary limestone environments are attractive for their calm and sculptural qualities. Limestone is diamagnetic. This means that when limestone is in a magnetic field it does not interact with it at all, or it actually makes a weak negative magnetic field in response. Could it be that these calming limestone terrains somehow offset or repel magnetic energy at an unconscious, cellular or sensory level?

Early abstract painters Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky were also interested in the science of their day along with new ideas about the unconscious. Discovery of DNA and genetics fuelled their practices, along with spiritual notions found in the occult.

Many biomorphic artists considered the intuitive process of organic abstraction was a way to discover some essential truths of existence. This included a spiritual dimension that revealed visions and messages about the future. Kandinsky discussed this phenomenon and viewed making art as a spiritual practice: springing from an inner need that is timeless and has the hallmark of freedom. Hilma af Klint’s paintings for the temple were also fuelled by a spiritual quest for truth. She felt compelled to paint images transmitted to her by spirit guides, which instructed her to hide them until future generations could understand their messages.

The current practice bears marks that are gestural, along lines recognised within past abstract expressionism, and shapes that are intuitive and curvilinear like old biomorphic abstraction. Surrealist techniques such as automatism and frottage are also present. Modernist artist, Len Lye used doodles as a way to access the subconscious, and his thinking and mark making are key influences.

Unlike the histories in large-scale abstract expressionism, however, these works are small in scale, inviting a closer reading. The mark making shows scoring, scratching back, pressing into, and layering. Mediums used include charcoal, graphite, dye, ink, acrylic paint and pastel. The substrate is calcium-carbonate stone paper that can be recycled. Limestone is made from calcium carbonate so the materiality of the support reflects the concept of place. Along with this, the processes used also mimic the unseen geological pressures that impact limestone environments over time. While abstract expressionism was concerned with individual subjective expression, the quest here is to depict external forces and relations.

With our current moment in the Anthropocene, it seems the following sentiment from Patrick Howard is usefully pursued through the materiality of the work itself:

'Through deepening our attunement for our embodied integration in a living world we may relearn and restore a capacity to dwell more thoughtfully with newfound sensitivity, respect and restraint in the ecosystems on which we wholly depend.’

(Patrick Howard, Phenomenology & Practice, Volume 16 (2021), No. 1, pp. 40–56)

In regard to this a key question remains:

Can the sensory and physical act of painting bring unseen magnetic and diamagnetic energies that are sensed from the Earth into some conscious awareness?

Energy Fields II