a wheel inside a wheel

Getting lost in nature, I can sense the unfixity of its countless forms and processes. Recurring patterns at micro and macro scale arise from creative and destructive forces in space and time; reality appears simultaneously constant and impermanent. My thesis work, a wheel inside a wheel, explores the self in relation to contemporary conceptions of reality. I look at static and dynamic representations of stripped-down patterns modeled from nature, like circular bursts, splintering branches, or the meander of a wave. The action-based works on paper and cloth leverage invisible forces and signal permanency and physical embodiment, deepened through an engagement with archetypal materials. Time-based media renders an altogether separate point of view. Presenting documentary footage alongside artifacts of this abstraction practice, I speculate on the role sensing and recording technologies have in altering perceptions and observations of reality

Hand-Eye

This integrated article thesis has two distinct chapters: The first chapter is a case study on a selection of works by German artist Sigmar Polke using Hal Fosters writing on the historical and neo-avant-gardes. The study traces the way Polke revisits the first avant-garde project and comprehends its attempted traumatic rift from dominant ideologies for the first time. The second chapter is a comprehensive artist statement which simultaneously outlines the theoretical underpinnings of my work as well as the process leading to the body of work on display at McIntosh Gallery. The research sets out to answer the following question: If, throughout nineteenth century modernity, photography provided an index allowing for the observation of individual subjects and populations, what is the role of the indexical sign now and what are the implications if the index has been effectively erased in favour of mathematical notation

William Hodges and Thomas Daniell: Picturesque Representations of “Hindoostan”

This independent research project is a case study and investigation of William Hodges (1744-1797), Thomas Daniell (1749-1840), and his nephew William Daniell (years). Through the mediums of drawings, oil on canvas paintings, and aquatints prints, these artists created representations of colonial India during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. As such images of India were lacking before they traveled to India, investigating their work is fruitful to addressing the power, challenge, and impact of representation. This research begins with a description of these artists, the art aesthetic and political context in which they worked. Then, the question of how they represented India will be interpreted. Finally, the question of contemporary India’s capacity to be represented through artwork will be evaluated. This will include original photographs taken at several sights previously captured by William Hodges and Thomas and William Daniell. Such research is worthwhile because India is a challenging area to represented in the time of these artists as well as today. Also, India is struggling to define itself, and by researching the way it was previously portrayed may provide insight to addressing India’s current struggle to define itself

Shades

One of the facets influenced most by subjective reality is in the viewing of the aesthetic. shades is intended as a means of evoking the viewers\u27 sense of beauty, aesthetic pleasure to the mind . This is accomplished by techniques such as pinhole photography and camera obscura

The conversation between painting and photography in the 21st century: An analysis of selected paintings by Peter Doig (1959-) and Luc Tuymans (1958-)

In this research I explore the relationship between painting and photography, focusing on the natures of both mediums and how they are questioned when creating a painting from a photographic source. I have selected works by contemporary painters Peter Doig and Luc Tuymans for analysis, examining the ways in which their images force us to question the assumed ‘truth value’ attached to photographic images. I also explore the potential for both painting and photography as mediums to portray the internal or the imagined, as well as painting’s link to the concepts of artifice and construction throughout history, especially when compared to photography. In this research I examine the early development of photography, as well as the development of ‘photographic’ or perspectival language in painting, both separate from and in relation to advancements in photographic technologies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I then look at 20th Century painters and photographers and their engagement with and criticism of photography through their work, while examining the continuing debate around the associations linked with both mediums. This leads into the examination of selected works by Peter Doig and Luc Tuymans, exploring how their use of a photographic source to create their images raises questions of representation and if these representations can be classified as truthful or imagined, transparency or construction, human or mechanical. Finally in the discussion of my own work I deal with painting’s link to the internal or imagined, photography’s indexical link to reality, and how through the combination of these mediums these links are challenged. This research also looks at the nature of my subject matter; the city of Johannesburg, as a site of contradiction, existing in a space that is at once real and somehow otherworldly or imagined

Seeing in the Dark: Investigating the Photographic Act, Object, and Experience

Through my practice of colour darkroom manipulations and site installation, I investigate the photographic act as a unique phenomenon, serving a visual practice that embraces iteration and futurity. Photographs are in their very nature a unique set of variables and limits fixed together to produce an image. They are the surface negotiating causality (through time and calibration) that allows a viewer to witness traces of the photographic act through an experience of a photographic object and site installation. This negotiation is located in the recursive synthesis of the photographic act, the photographic object, and the photographic experience. Throughout this thesis I articulate how a material practice such as my own addresses an embodied investigation of limits both in a darkroom process and in the installation of work

Photography as Used by Artists

This study was undertaken to show the relationship of photography to the fine arts* A brief examination of the development of photography and its use by artists is included. This examination indicates that since the beginning of photography, artists have made use of it in their art. The study includes photographic processes used by the author in creating works of art. The text is illustrated with thesis projects which support the discussion

Media Archaeology Experiences: Method, Meaning and Amusement

In this paper I make four interventions in favour of the seductive value of experiential media archaeology. 1) The constellation of material artefacts that mediate between us and the world are an implicit context for historic writing on perception, representation and epistemology. Engagement with the materiality of these often forgotten artefacts offers insight into the meanings of texts that exclusively text-based scholarship would otherwise miss. 2) Tacit, artisanal knowledge embedded in artefacts sometimes exceeds that which can be found in written texts. I argue that an effective way of accessing this material logic is to re-build old artefacts to see how they work. Applying the theory of extended cognition to this process, I make a case for its unique epistemological value. 3) I show how the seductive intimacy of these objects can be amplified by re-imagining their aesthetic possibilities. 4) I discuss the educational value of the “rational recreation” with media artifacts as “philosophical toys.”&nbsp

Web of Life

The inspiration for my artwork comes from the emotional relationships that people have with family, friends and their social environment. In addition, the ecological food chain influences my art forms. After research, analysis and development, the triangle shape has become the main element in my thesis work. The triangle form helps me to ideate the infinite cycles, connections and links that create a complex web. This thesis work includes jewelry, installation and sculpture. Different forms of this work emphasize distinct themes about the relationships. In terms of the techniques, along with utilizing traditional techniques such as soldering, painting and stitching, I invented a new technique of casting resin and exploring cold connecting to join individual parts according to different materials’ characteristics. Triangles and webs will be displayed in two dimensions and three dimensions. Material application, in particular, can be explored in three dimensions. The thesis work reveals the importance of relationships for every living being and the triangle figure plays a significant role in the balance of life. Meanwhile, the webs in our lives are huge, and become more complex when we realize that every unnoticed even every tiny link in each web cannot be replaced