Kala: journeyings through colour and time

This research represents a watershed in an extended artistic career and, for that reason, the early chapters trace a detailed pathway through a diversity of artistic influences. Apart from exploring the impact of significant others, additional influences include Museum and Gallery collections, Library collections, and a multiplicity of literary interests which encompass the development of an early predisposition for exploring the potential of a synthesis between the spiritual and material. The thesis documents and analyses previous practice as well as the effect of a dramatic move in geographic location. This overview is provided as a backdrop to the current research. However the primary focus of the research derives from the possibilities inherent in a literary work and its potential for generating the conceptual underpinning and compositional framework of a visual work. Significant factors in this regard are the identification of ideas allied to various aspects of temporality and their relationship and translation from literary sources to their development and realization as visual interpretations. Outcomes of the research include exhibitions of artwork in Brisbane and Townsville, the realization of two Public Artworks, and the fabrication of an Artist’s Book. Issues relating to the translation of work designed for exhibition in a gallery situation and the translation of selected pieces into Public Artworks are explored. In treating the evolution of an Artist’s Book, the origins and conceptual background of the text are scrutinized in concert with the eisegetical approach adopted in terms of its visual interpretation and structural development. Although the commercial publication of the book represents a post examination outcome, the research cites earlier ideas for its replication and editioning up to that point. A chronologically organized, illustrated survey of exhibited works, together with a description of the images, is included. The qualitative and quantitative aspects of responses to the artist’s work are discussed from two perspectives. The first views these in terms of a body of work brought together for presentation as an exhibition and the other from the point of view of the development of works destined to be located within the public domain. Also included are the implications of this exploration for further creative practice, which are probed in relation to the development of future artistic directions. Comprehensive Appendices are provided which both cross-reference and elaborate on specific aspects of the research