40 x 1.7cm
x 50cm
I recently entered the pyramid rabbit hole, long story short, these are not tombs. It began as I find other peoples point of view interesting so I let conspiracy theories (or just regular theories that the mainstream labels to lower their credibility) enter my YouTube feeds and I think it included a mix of my electronics searches because I came across a pyramid generator theory by Chris Dunn. The entire topic is fascinating and has merit so I don’t think my painting reflects all the ideas I came across but I wanted to paint something pyramid. One point that I want to share, through art, is that we seem to under the mainstream impression that Egypt has always been a desert but there’s water erosion marks all over the Sphinx. Water plays a big part in a lot of the science explaining alternate histories. The pyramids generator theory is pretty complicated but I started the painting when learning about the aquifers part of the theory which is the very beginning of the generator theory, so I painted the pyramid of water. I also wanted to reflect two older artworks named, ‘Priorities’ and ‘Priorities 2’. The artwork wasn’t very planned out but as I continued to paint I put in plenty of effort into the spikes, also referencing my recent artwork ‘Thinking Things Up’ I learnt about the mystery of the tunnels that lead under the Sphinx so I added those into it. At some point I wanted to add more, then another point I decided to keep it simple and make more artworks to share the ideas. This artwork is one of my hand-stretched ones, sold with hooks ready to hang and a certificate of authenticity.
40 x 1.7cm
x 50cm
I read a book shortly before painting this painting, ‘Genius, The Natural History of creativity by Hans Eysenck’ and on page 127 I read this line; “Genius is only found in males (for whatever reason!). Illustrations abound. In the list of geniuses studied by Cox, (1926) there are no women.” Let’s take note of the somewhat surprise from Eysenck as if he alludes to the reason actually being gender. So I’ll take a moment to elaborate the times. Women only won women’s rights in the 60’s and I doubt it was an easy road after that, sexism is still evident deep within culture so I don’t see women in the 60’s suddenly being accepted into jobs automatically without prejudice. The book itself points out that the definition of genius requires eminence in the field of your career. Women weren’t allowed careers so there you go, mystery solved. Even though another 60 years has passed we need to take into account that’s just your grandmother, or mothers generation who fought for equal rights and I bet there were some too busy raising young children to take it seriously. So you have your generation to be the first without prejudice in obtaining a job and on your way to the definition of genius. I personally argue it’s not a fresh start as in male dominated careers women report others having the opinion they won the job just please the stats and don’t receive the same respect amongst colleagues. As I read on it seemed as if the women who were eminent such as Marie Curie or Emily Dickinson must have just been considered very good. So the prejudice doesn’t just lie in not being able to find avenues to become eminent, but then being recognised as eminent. Following that thought I decided to whip out a female Einstein. She wears his jacket and the buttons lie the way a woman’s jacket does. That subtitle on page 127 named “Gender”, seems to have a misprint as I read “Prejudice in gender”. This artwork is one of my hand-stretched ones, sold with hooks ready to hang and a certificate of authenticity.
30 x 1.7cm
x 40cm
One day I was colouring in my colouring in book and felt an ant crawling on my hand, I then looked again and it was gone. You could say it jumped off or something, but I went down a thought trail and wondered if the ant was ever there in the first place? I had just read a book, ‘Genius, The Natural History of Creativity’ by H. J. Eysenck which explains that studies show more creative people tend to sit closer on the scale to psychosis. So wondering whether I’m immune to this trend was on my mind, if I am, am I not even that creative? Is the creativity a hallucination too? I continued the thought alongside this fresh new insight on psychology, it’s possible I imagined the ant… It’s possible I’m imagining everything around me. You could be insane and never know it. I shared the thought with a friend, she added we might not even be friends and either of us could be sitting there alone talking to ourselves. Then you add the reality that reality is just warped to your perspective and what you engage with. So if nothing’s real, then everything’s real and there’s no such thing as anything. From there I decided to paint the ants. I painted my hand but they’ve opened up a rabbit hole for me so I painted holes in the hands where birds fly in and out, like the birds in my artworks. I decided nothing’s real so the table turns into an ocean and some boats seem to be on struggle street knocked over. Then you’ll see that turns into a wave of water and travels into the distance. I tried making the room warp at the edges and the clouds sit as a pendant inside. The birds on the window are a reference to my digital artwork ‘Cockatoo’s at My Window’ This artwork is one of my hand-stretched ones, sold with hooks ready to hang and a certificate of authenticity.
