Fragments:Beyond the object

Abstract

The project is an investigation of processes that contrive to influence how visual objects are viewed and interpreted. I believe that all artworks are composed of a combination of physical and conceptual fragments, with the physical object constituting but a small yet important part of the viewer’s perceptual experience. To me, the role of an art object is to be a specifically crafted initiator, setting in train a process that builds a vision of a whole that is more than the object itself. I contend that a fragment of an artwork has a definite edge, a point where its physical being ceases, but also marking a transition where an ambiguity begins: there is an unseen continuation which surrounds all art objects. This is explored through an overview of the fragment, particularly in Western sculptural and light forms. In a metaphoric sense, the undefined and ephemeral space beyond the object is inhabited by elements that fall in and out of focus: it is a place where cognition of them is always fleeting. It is these parts, not physically represented by the object, but merely inferred as a consequence of the object, that are the subject of investigation. The perceived space beyond the physical object is never completely decoded and never fully confirmed, yet is essential to the understanding of the art object. Fragments: Beyond the Object sets out to portray this mind-projected space surrounding the art object, what Heidegger identifies as this ‘nothingness’. I use two-dimensional manipulated images and the play of light to suggest both a fragment and its surrounding space. The installation tests the possibilities of the extension of human perception, seeking to find how little is physically needed for the mind to apprehend an object, to evolve for it an acceptable form, so that it is imagined and understood in three dimensions.