This is a relationship between landscape, object and grammar. Walking and scanning the local beaches near my studio in Japan I happened to locate these similar stone pieces and overtime I drew related uses from them.
Running parallel to this process was the discovery of warn and bent boat nails that had concentrated around a small harbour beach in Sydney Harbour. Amassed they tell a narrative of sea dwellers lives, boat craft and fishing expeditions or just the spaces where whales once gathered.
Bringing these objects together, governed by scale, shape and resonance they present the findings of a type of archaeological investigation largely based upon an unidentified language.
As stated by Norman Lewis (1909–1979) first published in 1950: “Art to me is the expression of unconscious experiences common to all men, which have been strained through the artist’s own peculiar associations and use of his medium. In this sense, it becomes an activity of discovery…not only for the artist but for those who view his work. Art is a language in itself, embodying purely visual symbols which cannot properly be translated into words, musical notes, or, in the case of painting, three-dimensional objects…”
morgan veness 