An exhibition (physical and online) of abstract colorfield paintings, sound recordings and photography that are concerned with noise, air pollution, the size of green space and how we are, or are not, able to connect to nature and the need for quietude in our daily lives.

The themes and concepts for the exhibition were triggered by statements on information posters I came across in Taipei and Tamsui which said; ‘Green Living Area With Metro Taipei’ and ‘Taipei, Is not only a city, But also a forest’. These statements led to a line of inquiry of how true where these statements to the extent that the posters wanted me, the reader, to believe?

 

My work for some time has been focused on deterioration found in my daily environment, a microcosmic look at the natural break down of materials such as metal, paint and concrete.

The ‘disquietude’ project is a look at the break down of natural environment through the needs of modern city life.

The dots and splashes of paint, that make up the paintings surface, being representative of dust particles in the air and/or interference of the kind you get visually and audibly from an out of tune TV or radio. This painted effect also acting as a silent visual exaggeration of dust particles in our air and the pollution from traffic noise; the interference that disrupts our desire to connect to the natural world, and also obstructs our needed moments of tranquility and silence within our busy daily lives.

 

This exhibition is also accompanied by extra online visual and audio materials which put the paintings into greater context, helping the viewer make a connection between the paintings and the sights and sounds in their day to day environment; which in turn takes the paintings away from being viewed as abstract and blurs where they sit stylistically in the art cannon.

Viewing them from this perspective with the added information of photography and sound recordings the paintings become abstracted/representational in nature.

 

We could conclude from the paintings, sound recordings  and photographs that we are choking, deafened by sound and unable to connect to the natural environment in the midst of the city, yet natures resilience continues against surmounting odds producing vibrant greens, delicate vibrantly colored flowers and also helping us to breath, and when the traffic stops just for a second we can sit in tranquility. It is up to us to keep as much of nature in our cities as possible.