overview of Beneath the Surface and three images

Tiff, Pete and I have always been fascinated by the object. In some instances the object as a formal entity and in others the objects changed by the combination of weather, time and often, neglect. Each artist has their own unique way of presenting the work-watercolour, etching and photography, but all have a similar visual and conceptual framework. The objects themselves are a mixture of the natural and constructed.

“The articulate audible voice of the past when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.”

Thomas Carlyle

In philosophical terms ‘substance’ relates to the Greek ousia, which means ‘being’, and the Latin substantia, which means ‘something that stands under or grounds things’. Substances are fundamental structures of reality. They are the basic things from which everything is made.

Susan Sontag wrote of our diminishing touch with our past and that our objects should “have a patina, old furniture, grandparents’ pots and pans–the used things, warm with generations of human touch, ...essential to a human landscape. Instead, we have our paper phantoms, transistorized landscapes. A featherweight portable museum.”

The work will contribute to a conversation as to what is the inherent meaning of our material world, and how and why objects have such a fascination for us, as possessions, as historical indicators, as part of place and as emotional connections. Even though many of us live detached from the natural world in built environments, governed by technology, we are still able to understand the powerful pull of the natural world. We can relate to these themes with ease, understanding that something as common place as a  nest can convey ideas inherent in our own lives; home, partnership, nurture and inevitable loss. The symbols themselves need little explanation, they are meant to be accessible to all, to illustrate the intrinsic human connection to nature, space and place and the role we play.

  “But the rest is what is given to you as something extra, and there is a charm and a particular freedom about letting just anything come along, with the grace-or ennui-of a later destiny.”

Jean Baudrillard

Shelter Peter Rohen 30 x 30 cm Etching on archival paper

Torso Peter Ranyard 45 x 30 cm Archival Photographic Print

Leaf and Seed in Jam Jar Tiffanie Brown 36 x 36 cm Watercolour on cotton rag