Phillip George: Tangent @ 23 X
Artist(s):
Title:
- Tangent @ 23 X
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 1996
Medium:
- mixed media on canvas
Size:
- 130 cm X 100 cm
Category:
Keywords:
Artist Statement:
Mnemonic Notations 1990-1997
The original “Mnemonic Notations” series of images was developed from one computer file that has been continuously modified in an intuitive manner. At various stages, the computer file has been down-loaded and displayed as an artifact for the spectator.
The ongoing process that constitutes this work emerges from a reflection on the correspondences between mind, memory, our experience of the land, and the social constructions of religions and philosophies that have a major impact on humanity’s perceptions of the world and consequently on the way that it is remembered.
I am currently working on a body of work that includes the use of seahorses. This work has developed from the “Mnemonic” suite of images. I am interested in the ambiguity and the outright strangeness of these creatures, in that the male becomes pregnant and carries the young in a brood pouch. Seahorses also mate for life, and when one is caught without the other, the captured one will not breed.
These images can be interpreted in many ways, but one that amuses me is that they represent the ultimate in political correctness – pregnant males! Here in these images, the Yogini with serpentine female energy manifests from the stomach of the male seahorse: a Tantric manifestation of many possible worlds embodied in the one time and incarnation. The works can be seen as artifacts secured from an imposing archaeological site of the future: a form of mutant androgynous specimen evolving out of memory into a theoretical future. They come with their baggage in tow.
This new work is seen as running in “Tangent” to the older “Mnemonic Notations” body of works, but in the new work, the parallel processing that is under way at the time of writing is underlined by the process of the practice. The images are created and produced as two-dimensional images on canvas, and at the same time are moved into a QuickTime VR interactive environment for use in immersive environmental works.
