Beyond Nature / Alex Fensham | Alex Fensham
Beyond Nature / Alex Fensham
25 November - 13 December 2010
Artist’s Statement
Within the Western tradition of landscape painting, the rural and the ‘natural’ environment have been significant to a Eurocentric perception of identity. While traditional, Western landscape subjects provide a portal to understanding pastoral and colonial identities, these are now largely outdated motifs. Such readings of identity can no longer be regarded as either an accurate or adequate means of articulating the complexities of the contemporary human condition.
With the majority of the world’s population now inhabiting cities, the urban landscape has become the dominant factor in determining people’s self-identity. Urban life also changes the catalysts that engage us in the conception of ‘higher’ ideas. My art explores the possibility that the technological conditions of contemporary experience can influence people’s perception of the infinite – thus shaping the potential for experiencing the sublime.