Bush Bathing/Landscape ‘Painting’/The Nature Of Reality
A step towards the capture of reality, rather than the commentary on it, being of reality rather than just representing it.
So far I have been trying to represent reality in abstract terms (text, paintings etc), it becomes translated through my own understanding and subjectivity rather than letting it stand alone unto itself.
In an attempt to describe the nature of reality the ‘natural’ is lost.
High consciousness contained within humans has allowed us to interpret and critique the natural world – reality and as such stand outside of it rather than being part of it ourselves.
With the titling as ‘Bush Bathing/Landscape ‘Painting’/The Nature Of Reality’ I draw on similarities between these works and the more traditional landscape ‘portraiture’ the psychology of landscape paintings is interesting and parallels that of exoticism.
The idea came during a visit to my home country New Zealand. Having lived in London now for 9 years New Zealand, trees, bush, forests, mountains and the natural world has become such a foreign experience for me.
Never before had I spent so much time just looking at trees… To sit out on the deck of my parents house looking out into the trees, hearing the birds, feeling the breeze and seeing the sparkling of the harbour. I could not have been further from the reality of London.
Expanse of space aids in the expanse of the mind. I see it as a metaphor for the future, the further you can see the more that seems possible, as within the expanse there are infinite possibilities.
Being able to see a far away horizon opens you up, past the grey brick walls of say London, where concrete often jolts up to meet the sky creating a psychological cave and a feeling of oppression.
This series is an attempt to capture what the traditional landscape painters did, where paintings literally became windows to a different time, place and reality, where in the past the viewer had no hope of seeing in real life for themselves(the world these days is of course a lot smaller in regards to the access and transport to and from exotic and/or distant lands)
These pieces also act as virtual ‘forest bathing’
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forest bathing is the practice of taking a short, leisurely visit to a forest for health benefits. The practice originated in Japan where it is called shinrin-yoku (森林浴).[1]
Forest bathing as well as having house plants and to a lesser extent landscape paintings and even nature programs such as David Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth’ have a positive effect of the human condition.
I believe that these works of mine are (with the help of technology) truer to reality than a painting captured and translated through the eye, mind and then the brush of the artist.
So far I have created 2 types of pieces,
1. With me walking around in the forest with a chest mounted action cam in Ultra HD 4K, down tracks and along the beach, where the viewer (as per my ‘FUTURE TRUTH FOR THE UNILLUMINATED’ videos eg. https://youtu.be/OUW8pXuHseo) become me through the use of a P.O.V camera angle. This bring the viewer into that reality, walking themselves within the forest or in nature from the ‘safety’ of their pc, phone or other viewing device.
2. The action cam is set up insitu, attached to a tree and left alone for up to an hour to interact through silent observation of the bush.
These pieces are purposely presented without titles or credits as to not be recognised as film or video but rather as reality itself.
I then got to thinking about my use of CCTV cameras in my work. CCTV is used infinitely in London and now more and more so around the world.
It is a device to keep social order, to be a deterrent for those who wish to cause harm to other persons or property, or catch those that do.
It has become in some ways a replacement for religion and the omnipresent all seeing god, to help followers remain virtuous, the religious moral laws become societal laws governed by ‘the system’ rather than the church.
When the camera is then turned away from the world of man and towards the natural world this idea is turned on its head.
Where once there would was a shop keeper trying to watch over his stock and livelihood or an antiterrorist teaming spying on left luggage and commuters on the tube, is now the sway of trees in the wind, clouds floating by, or birds in a chorus of bird song.
In nature all is in harmony with itself, there is a balance there and through the eyes of the camera can become the observer of a different kind of consciousness.
It would be interesting to set up and send out a load of CCTV cameras to people around the world to be set up in different natural secluded locations away from humanity, which could then be transmitted to a command center within cities to act as multidimensional portals between worlds instantaneous, in real time.
Another future idea would be to use 360 degree cameras and VR headsets to fully immerse the viewer in the natural surroundings.