SPACE BETWEEN SOUND + TIME + FORM written by Emma Beer
The National Carillion is something that most Canberrans are familiar with - on some level. Some might know its location and its size, but not its name. Some may know its name but not of its history. Some perhaps know its history but not its value. Nevertheless, it stands. Ironically, I recently discovered that a Carillion is best listened to within a radius of one hundred meters and with an unobstructed view of its tower. Our Carillion is situated on a small island named Aspen Island. This means that the most part for optimum listening is on the water and isn’t easily accessible. Within the discourse of modernism, this seems like a missed opportunity to me. Personally, my encounters with the Carillion have been when it struck 9am as I franticly rode my bike across Kings Avenue Bridge making it obnoxiously and invariably unavoidable that I was running late for work.
For this particular series of large paintings, I responded to The National Carillion, its architecture (by Cameron, Chisholm, and Nicol of WA.) and the sound of its 55 bells to be included in the Contour 556, Public Art Biennial, Canberra in 2018. This attitude towards exploring and potentially define space between sound and vision, though painting what you can hear and sound you can see becomes an action that requires the patience to observe in new ways (for me) touching on synesthetic readings (not so new for some). This gave me a chance to dive into colour-music (colour-sound) or colour field painting employing function outside the boundaries of image making, where abstraction can expand, embrace and occupy wider spheres for activity – starting with questioning whether painting can be performed.
JUNE, 2018