The College of Fine Arts The University of New South Wales Master of Fine Arts Research Thesis 2012 Carla Dawn Hananiah Statement of Authorship I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. i Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank Louise Fowler-Smith, my supervisor, for her ongoing support, contribution and advice; Eloise Minogue for her generosity in time spent both critically and creatively editing my writing with tireless patience; Neil Frazer for his role as mentor within my studio practice. A big thank you to my husband Isaac Hananiah for his complete and unwavering support, understanding, encouragement and assistance. Thank you Mum, for waking up extremely early for photo shoots and to all my family for encouraging, believing and investing in my dreams. ii Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 65:8 iii ABSTRACT Discovery is an age-old concept. The lands of Australia and New Zealand were colonized through the adventurous spirit of the explorers we find on the coins or notes of our countries today. In comparison to the Old World, the lands of the antipodean ‘new world’ seem to be not quite tamed and some places remain untouched. The light, colours and forms possess a sense of moodiness that is evocative of the spiritual; the lands could be described as “visual psalms”. Representation of the ‘new world’ is largely imaged through the European conventions of the Old World. Historically, artists throughout New Zealand and Australia have grappled with developing imaging methods that can truthfully render all that the new world represents. Research for this thesis led to an exploration of techniques and ideas utilized by artists such as Colin McCahon, William Robinson and Euan Macleod in the quest to capture the spirit of place in our southern lands. In investigating the old world conventions applied to an explication of the new, I was particularly interested in the religious and the spiritual and how these act as markers or guides to interpreting the land. The grandiosity of the southern lands awakens a sense of the spiritual, prompting an exploration of philosophical and theological ideas around the sublime and the beautiful. This led to an investigation into the transcendent and infinite qualities of the sublime and its relation to the divine. This research accumulated to a personal investigation or discovery of the sublime through filters of spirituality. The poetic sensibility, literature, lyrics and music of the Romantics played an integral part in this discovery. The spiritual symbolism and significance of sky and clouds were explored and this fostered a tendency to focus on the drama of light, colour and movement found in an ever- changing sky. The desire to capture movement in sky through paint led to specific research on other artists such as Victor Majzner, Stephen Bush and Kate Shaw, all of whom stretch the material possibilities of paint. Through a praxis-based research I have sought to develop imaging methodologies with the fluidity necessary to articulate my own sense of spirit of place as well as the specific geological topographies of New Zealand and Australia. iv CONTENTS Introduction 1 Part One: Defining the Sublime 2 Etymology 2 ‘Beauty’ versus ‘Sublime’ 3 Part Two: The Transformative Power of the Sublime 7 The Divine found in the Sublime 7 The Romantics 11 Part Three: Discovering the Sublime 20 My Personal Discovery of the Sublime 20 Old World versus New World Filters 28 Contemporary responses to the sublime 34 Part Four: Spirituality and the Land 40 Beauty Pointing to the Infinite 40 The Spiritual Significance of the Sky 42 A study of light, colour and sound 52 Part Five: The Creative Process 61 Fluid Painting Methodology 61 Observing Other Artists’ Responses to the Land 67 Conclusion 72 v INTRODUCTION My art practice is centred on a spiritual and emotional response that comes through a personal journey of discovering the sublime of New Zealand and Australian landscape. In this paper, I will introduce and explore ideas surrounding the sublime and explain how these ideas have inspired my painting practice. It has become evident to me that the youth of these countries make them unique as the land has not been completely tamed; in comparison to the countries of the Old World, the vast expanses of mountain ranges, plains, deserts, and lakes are relatively untouched. The ephemeral quality of light and colour in New Zealand and Australia is suggestive of poetry and passion. My aim is to capture the poetry and passion present in these landscapes and reproduce the essence of this through paint. Therefore, in my praxis-based research, I have placed an emphasis on experimenting with the material and physical properties of paint, developing new imaging methodologies so that I can fulfil this aim. In Part One, the concept of the sublime is introduced and defined by looking at the etymology of the word “sublime” and the subsequent relationship beauty has to the sublime. Part Two explores the transformative power of the sublime with a focus on the Romantics and recognition of the divine in relation to the sublime. Part Three looks at various ways to discover the sublime. I share my personal discovery of the sublime before looking at both historical and contemporary responses to the discovery of the sublime. Part Four focuses on the spirituality of place and recognition of the infinite in relation to the experience of the sublime whilst being in the land. The spiritual significance of the sky or “heavens” is explored, as is the purpose or role of beauty, through a study of light, colour and sound in direct relation to my practice as well as other practitioners. Lastly, in Part Five, the creative process of my studio practice is explained in detail, and other artists whose practice has had an influence on my process or way of thinking is acknowledged. 1 PART ONE: DEFINING THE SUBLIME Etymology For the purposes of this research and discourse, it is imperative to introduce the background theory on ideas of the sublime. The word ‘sublime’ etymologically derives from the Latin sublimis meaning elevated, lofty or sublime. When we break the word down into parts, which is the best way to understand the origins of the word’s creation, we see that sub means ‘up to’ and limis or limen means threshold, doorway, boundary or limit. Hence, the basic premise of the meaning of the sublime is to be ‘transported’ and the word is used to articulate a quality of grandeur or magnitude, whether that is physical, metaphysical, moral, intellectual, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic in nature. In reading through various texts it can be seen that the origins of the use of the word ‘sublime’ is paired with the practice of alchemy. The alchemists modified the word sublimis into a verb sublimare, which means ‘to elevate’ and was: …commonly used by alchemists to describe the purifying process by which substances were turned into a gas on being subjected to heat, then cool and become a newly transformed solid. Modern chemistry still refers to the ‘sublimation’ of substances but of course without its mystical alchemical connotation, whereby purification also entailed transmutation into a higher state of spiritual existence.i This early usage of the word correlates with my own experiences of the sublime and is what I strive to communicate through my artwork. The poetic impact of the metaphor of being purified though the sublime - or changed spiritually - is what captured my imagination when reading. When encountering beauty, my spirit has often felt as though it were being simultaneously lifted and cleansed; I feel that beauty elevates my soul and mind to “a higher state of spiritual existence”. 2 ‘Beauty’ versus ‘Sublime’ In looking at the sublime the word ‘beauty’ is often used; however, it is important to acknowledge that while beauty can draw our attention to the sublime or be a facet of the sublime, the two are not synonymous. This brief background I have covered is the foundation of thinking that has inspired and provoked artists, writers and art historians to examine their viewpoint on a subject that is controversial in definition and application. Others have chosen to disregard notions of the sublime as irrelevant or out-dated. However, in looking at the main ideas surrounding the definition of sublime it can be argued that the human experience is unaltered by the times we live in at the basic level of appreciating both beauty and the sublime in nature. In recent times, there has been commentary on the present age of technology and how our understanding of the sublime and all it encompasses has widened as a result. In this paper, I will particularly address the more traditional qualities of the sublime through the human experience of being in the land or nature, as this is what my research is centred on Subsequently, though I acknowledge there is a broad range of writings on the sublime, I will focus on those I consider most relevant to describing the sublime experience of being in the land.