Painting and time : the dynamic of the actual and the virtual : this thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), 2016 / Ronald Joseph Left ; supervisors: Welby Ings, Barbara Bolt.
Painting and Time: The dynamic of the actual and the virtual is a practice-led thesis exploring imagery and association derived from the transit space of travel. This is a place where time is highly coded, where the traveller is made hyper-conscious of the immediate past, the present and the imminen...
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| Format: | Ethesis |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | Click here to access this resource online |
| Summary: | Painting and Time: The dynamic of the actual and the virtual is a practice-led thesis exploring imagery and association derived from the transit space of travel. This is a place where time is highly coded, where the traveller is made hyper-conscious of the immediate past, the present and the imminent future. Our personal time of waiting, anticipation and anxiety collides with a globalised and controlled time. Using painting and photographic processes, the project engages with a spectrum that spans moments where time becomes almost visible, to broad, abstract concerns with time and being. The airport transit space is a time zone, where clock time, global and coded time collide and compete with personal and experienced time. Underpinning the studio and written work is an exploration of actuality and virtuality, the visible and the invisible, and a proposition that these two states are inherent in all things, they interact and define each other, and are the determining drivers of change and becoming. Alongside the artwork, the project aims to provide a set of critical perspectives regarding the nature of time and change that might have applicability to other visual arts practices. The exegesis considers a range of material related to the topic. Of significance in the theoretical underpinning and development of my painting practice is Deleuze's philosophical enquiry into time, which is in turn indebted to Henri Bergson's notion of duration, first developed in Time and Free Will, 1989. The thinking of subsequent theorists including Elizabeth Grosz (1999; 2005), Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe (1996), Manuel DeLanda (2000; 2005), and David Rodowick (1997; 2002), who build on Deleuze's analysis of the nature of time, and of the actual and the virtual also contribute to this painting practice. Deleuze constructs not only a dynamic, radical view of the nature of time, but he also looks to the creative process as an arena of thought equivalent to philosophy, allowing for an on-going interaction between the two modes of practice. Over the duration of the project, research and writing engage in a productive dialogue, challenging and generating new ideas and outcomes. The thesis culminates in an exhibition of artwork and an exegesis. The final outcome of the research is a single painting fifteen metres in length. In an analogous structure to cinematic form, it has both a linear and a non-chronological form. The work shifts back and forward in time, and in the framing and repeating of images inside and outside the frame, it decodes and claims a new space for virtual associations and memory. Entering into this experiential zone through the creative act is the closest we might come to visualising a multiple and mobile notion of time, not pervaded by the mechanics of clock time. The intention of the thesis therefore is to explore this notion though a temporal model of practice informed by a specific concern with actual and virtual elements that construct reality. In particular Gilles Deleuze's idea of reciprocal determination provides not only a dynamic, agnostic1 model of existence and the nature of change, but finds analogous form in the work explored throughout the thesis project. The hybrid forms of abstraction and representation explored are intended to create a parallel form to the theoretical dynamic of mutual interaction and determination. The result of this dual process is a new and reclaimed transit space that unravels a deep experiential layer through poetic form. An initial interest in a temporal model for the making and analysis of creative practice gradually unravelled a more specific concern with actual and virtual elements that construct reality. Deeper research into Deleuze and subsequent theorists in the area, revealed a strong potential link with art practice. Deleuze's idea of reciprocal determination, in particular, provided not only a dynamic model of existence and the nature of change, but found analogous form and practice in my own painting. Author supplied keywords: Painting; Time; Photography; Philosophy; Transit. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource Also held in print (299 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm) in off-campus storage, box 185. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |