AUTOMATISMS (series) works in progress 2021-22
My work with video and projections led to an interest in the phenomenon of light, and subsequently its' visible spectrum - color. I am interested in the theory that light, and therefore color, has a consciousness - that it is a ‘being’ as such, and that the ability to work with this consciousness can be amplified. This rather abstract and ethereal point of view was opened to me via studying shamanism over a three period in France. Shamanism is a philosophy of nature based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces. It is a belief that all aspects of the world are alive, which is said to be attained through a transition of consciousness. Having experienced forced transitions in consciousness in which I perceived a ‘mental connection with the forces within color’, I am interested and open to this rather radical concept, and this ‘shamanistic’ approach to light/color is one of the methodologies that I use in practice. Even though the initial influence was through esoteric methods, I could rephrase it in phenomenological language and to Goethe’s way of science - his phenomenology of the natural world. He sought to open himself to the things of nature, to ‘listen’ to what they said, and to identify their core aspects and qualities. Obviously this is the study of conscious experience from a completely subjective point of view, and is the meaning that I attribute to color via my experience.
'Myvanwy Gibson’s abstract compositions are the result of an automatism; a not entirely conscious process that induces the artist into a state of intimate reunion with nature. This free gestural approach, removed from rigid rational control, determines the manifestation of the natural datum. It does not appear simulated or manipulated by the artist, rather she limits herself to creating the conditions for such interconnections to occur and, consequently, to reveal themselves. A wild, primaeval and sentient nature seems to flow undisturbed from her works. The violent chromatic lighting, as well as most of the textures that characterize her works, refer to the many species of reptiles and birds native, like herself, to Australia.' Text by Mattia Lapperier, Curator/Art Critic
