Images of Impermanence: Resistance! Paintings as Provisional Realities (group exhibition), Of Ghosts and Angels (group exhibition), Mandorla Art Award (finalist), Impact 12 International Printmaking Conference Exhibitions (Edge of Infinity)
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Research Statement
Research Background
The philosophical aim of the 19th C German Romantics was to lever against alienation: from nature, other people, and from one’s inner life. Goethe, a leading voice, was inspired by Spinoza’s univocity however, the group made an error—conceiving a hierarchy, counter to the thought of Spinoza, whereby life was organised in terms of importance—with the artist at the top of the pyramid and insects etc. at the bottom (Beiser, 2006). My work extends lines of flight (Deleuze) from this movement, counters the error, conceiving a world of profound interconnectedness, in line with concepts of life as process (Rovelli, 2016, 2017, 2019). Through these four iterations my research seeks to change perceptions and responds to the fragility of our world in crisis through rapid climate change.
Research Contribution
This series of works contribute to a more relational understanding of the living world and their entanglement within the unconscious. The common thread through this research is my ongoing challenge to manifest images of the ethical message of impermanence. My approach to painting is innovative in that it attempts a convergence of non-objective painting, where concepts of the void and metaphysics of becoming (Deleuze)—expressed as voids of material darkness—are contrasted with iconography which includes, decayed flowers, clouds, smoke, birds, owls, and skulls.
Research Significance
The Mandorla Art Award is Australia’s most significant biannual thematic Christian art prize in which my artwork was selected as a finalist (41 works selected) from a competitive national field of 275 entries. Resistance! was reviewed in the Canberra Times (Haynes, June 25, 2022), and Of Ghosts and Angels was reviewed in Artists Chronicle (Snell, 2022). Catalogues were produced for the exhibitions with online presence at different venues (M-16 and Art Collective). Impact 2022 had online presence and the work was part of a series of critical international forum/events.
Non-Traditional Research Output
Original Creative Work
Document Type
Non-Traditional Research Output
Date of Publication
2022
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
58046
Event Title
Resistance! Paintings as Provisional Realities / Of Ghosts and Angels / Mandorla Art Award / Impact 12 International Printmaking Conference Exhibitions
Event Dates
May 21-June 10; June 16-July 3; September 21-25; November 26-December 17, 2022
Event Venue
M-16, Canberra / Art Collective WA, Perth / Holmes à Court Gallery, St John of God Subiaco / New Norcia Museum and Gallery / St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth / Bristol University, U.K.
Comments
Uhlmann, P. (2022) Images of Impermanence: Resistance! Paintings as Provisional Realities (group exhibition), Of Ghosts and Angels (group exhibition), Mandorla Art Award (finalist), Impact 12 International Printmaking Conference Exhibitions (Edge of Infinity).