#rubyudysartiststatement

[rubyudys]

‘Sulci Fungi’ Artists Statement

‘Sulci Fungi’, Ruby Udys, 2021, 50cm x 70cm, oil on canvas. (Available for sale: https://www.rubyudys.com/product-page/sulci-fungi )    

 Dream Scented Rushes was the third exhibition I have contributed my artwork to as well as my third effort as assistant curator in collaboration with curator and artist, Azzurro.  

I am so thankful for the experience and for having Azzurro trust me in the curation process, its an art in itself!

I'd like to share my artist statements, along with the artworks I contributed to this group show. The artist statement is detailed below.

The indentation lines on a brain are called, ‘sulci’ or ‘sulcus’. The biggest sulci on our brains separates it into two halves. The raised part of the brain is called a ‘gyrus’. To me, while I’m relatively unfamiliar with the terms, sound like components to a sci-fi narrative. The form of our brains with their organically fortuitous sulcus’ are capable of amazing things. Fungus has insighted curious theories, including Terrance Mckenna’s ‘Stoned Ape’ theory. Wherein, “psilocybin mushrooms (magic mushrooms) were the "evolutionary catalyst" from which language, projective imagination, the arts, religion, philosophy, science, and all of human culture sprang” (Appendix II: The Stoned Ape Hypothesis.) 

Radiotrophic fungus was found with the ability to turn radiation in Chernobyl into energy. Mushrooms interact with their environment so cleverly; their diverse form is so intriguing too. Its understandable that fungi or toadstools are so prevalent as imagery in fairy tales etc.   

The shapes and purpose of both brains and fungi are, upon further inspection, otherworldly. These globules that we live among, fungi and brains, grasped my imagination for this piece, to create a Wonderland that is unfamiliar, yet entirely reflective of our present reality.   

[rubyudys]

‘Post-Humorous’ Artists Statement (2021).

 ‘Post-Humorous’, Ruby Udys, 2021, oil on canvas, 101.6cm x152.4cm, (SOLD), for the Azzurro curated, Chateau Apollo exhibition, ‘The Illusion of Fame', February the 10th 2021.      

The colloquial phrase “skeleton in the closet” was first written as far back as 1816, “used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which, if revealed, would damage perceptions of the person; It evokes the idea of someone having had a human corpse concealed in their home for so long that all its flesh had decomposed to the bone.”   

Morbidly, fame is often ‘awarded’ after death, particularly to artists. Value and attraction of artists and their work is applied posthumously, which begs to ask these questions, what is the value of fame while you are alive? And if fame is so sought after, is there a value to death?  

The relativity of a person’s ‘fame’ is so often temporal, people in the public eye will often disappear without a trace, their relevance expires. In the short or long stints in the celebrity sphere, celebrities are pedestalled while also being ridiculed. What keeps the people of the public eye relatable and ‘human’ is so often what is privatised, until that is exposed and the illusion of fame dissolves… 

What is able to dissolve the illusion of fame has range, it could be an unflattering paparazzi photograph (ala, Britney Spears) or more maliciously, the predatory acts of Harvey Weinstein. However vain or exploitive the death of fame is, the skeletons unveiled cast a dark shadow on a life which is so deeply desired by many. 

Whatever the worth of fame, it comes at a price, your skeletons may be pulled out of the closet...

[rubyudys]

‘On the Plumage of Birds’ Artists Statement

‘On the Plumage of Birds’, Ruby Udys, 2021,18cm x 12.5cm, digital illustration printed on poster paper. (Limited prints available at: https://www.rubyudys.com/product-page/on-the-plumage-of-birds ).   

Dream Scented Rushes was the third exhibition I have contributed my artwork to as well as my third effort as assistant curator in collaboration with curator and artist, Azzurro.    I am so thankful for the experience and for having Azzurro trust me in the curation process, its an art in itself!  I'd like to share my artist statements, along with the artworks I contributed to this group show: 

“Before the discovery of Australia, people in the Old World were convinced that all swans were white, an unassailable belief as it seemed completely confirmed by empirical evidence. The sighting of the first black swan might have been an interesting surprise for a few ornithologists (and others extremely concerned with the coloring of birds), but that is not where the significance of the story lies. It illustrates a severe limitation to our learning from observations or experience and the fragility of our knowledge. One single observation can invalidate a general statement derived from millennia of confirmatory sightings of millions of white swans” (Taleb, 2007), all it took was one black swan! 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professor of sciences, has devoted time to the consideration and labelling of life’s most improbable events. Events that lie outside the realm of regular expectations, as it where when the white settlers discovered black swans on Indigenous land. He uses this example of the white settlers discovering something that once seemed ‘improbable’ as a ‘Black Swan event’. Examples of Black Swan events include World War one, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the September 11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of the internet and personal computers, etc.  (Taleb, 2007). 

Without the hindsight we have now, the consideration of these aforementioned events in their worldview-altering ways, are absurd. A black swan event takes us from “How could two planes fly into the twin towers?” to “How couldn’t two planes fly into the twin towers? 

Our experiences of reality are shaped by our expectations of reality. We are amongst surrealism, absurdity, and possibility, each and every day. Surely that qualifies our living experience akin to Wonderland? If there is possibility for terror, there is possibility for enchantment. There is inherent magic in the native wildlife naturally found in Australia. We are amongst creatures and culture beyond any imagination, or at least to the untrained eye. You won’t believe it until you see it…

Reference: Taleb, N. (2007). The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Penguin.