Climbing the Plane

Richard Blackwell's looping, fragmented shapes represent the conversion of virtual reality into physical spaces. Conceptually fascinated by the idea of the absorbance of architectural space and its reinstatement as a virtual creation, Blackwell builds these forms in a virtual space and finally as the physical form of wall sculptures. The title of his solo, 'Climbing the Plane' references this navigating of the virtual space.

Climbing the PlaneCatalogue essay by Phe Luxford 2022

Ideas of potentiality, traversal and illusion are central to Richard Blackwell’s interdisciplinary practice. Broadly his works highlight the mutable nature of materials, space and perception. Specifically they articulate the artist’s ongoing interest in the intersect between reality and the virtual. Within the clean graphic iterations of his abstract images we become aware of an intrinsic tension between the physical truth of his forms and their relationship to algorithmic chance, machine technologies and the implied. Blackwell is observing the conditions in which we negotiate an increasingly complex relationship to the digital world.

Navigational Apparatus, consisting of a series of rock-wall handholds cast in smooth aluminium, suggests an opportunity for dynamic motion and yet the holds are set too far apart to facilitate practical movement. Here, an encounter with Blackwell’s work requires a break in logic between form and function. Manufactured to fit comfortably within a hand or to accommodate a foot, these ergonomic forms are enticingly bodily, yet at odds with their installed reality. The work hints at an elastic spatial relationship operating outside the laws of material truth. Like players within a virtual reality game, we can only contemplate scaling these vertical white walls, forced to visualise an alternative outcome only in our mind.

A disruption to, or transformation of spatial logic also plays out within the shifting folds of Blackwell’s white laminate wall sculptures. Conceived via computer generated datasets, the illusionistic lines of Mode Switch, Time on Track, Climbing the Plane and Start Again each imply a series of disrupted trajectories and reference the language of gaming and digital programming. Where past laminate works referenced architectural or urban aesthetics, these new works suggest purely abstract dynamic movement; their sweeping lines reminiscent of the neon trajectories of players within the CGI classic Tron. Imbued with subtle traces of three dimensionality, these sweeping circuits alter our perception of depth and distance and, through the interplay of line and shadow, rupture ideas of certainty.

Similarly active, Blackwell’s MRS4 (Modular Reflective Surface) series of stone panels, formed from interconnected wedges of travertine limestone and marble, function within the logic of an exploratory puzzle. Concerned with concepts of the infinite, each triangular shard – small, medium or large – has the potential to be arranged in a myriad of horizontal or vertical positions. Mapped onto a tight grid the resulting undulations create visually pleasing abstract forms. But they also suggest complexity, of topographic surfaces at once geological and architectural, and suggest terrains that are difficult to navigate. In some iterations all the wedges might face the same way, creating a satisfying series of peaks and troughs. In others however, the assembly appears haphazard and jarring, throwing angles at odds with one another. Singular lines of spray paint disrupt these stone tessellations, and finally trick the eye into seeing an illusion of flatness where there is none.

By harnessing ideas of illusion and potentiality in his work Blackwell proposes that any experience of the world is subject to a limitless stream of variable inputs and cognitive judgements that oscillate between the corporeal and the digital. A multitude of iterations, processes and spatial boundaries reside in Blackwell’s work. The experience of reading them, of perceiving the interplay between the textural truth of his surfaces, the draughtsmanship of his lines and the theoretical concepts behind them, together highlights the intermediate nature of perception. As such Blackwell invites us to participate in a simultaneously physical and virtual experience of the work, and in so doing, to be aware of the challenges and choices we face within   an increasingly complex technological reality.

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ARTIST PROFILE:

Richard Blackwell is an Australian artist based in Sydney where he holds the position of Advanced Manufacturing Lab Coordinator and Built Environment Tutor at the University of NSW Design Futures Lab. He also runs Studio Studio, a collective studio in Canberra ACT.

Having received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2012, Blackwell completed his Masters in Fine Art at the School of Art Institute of Chicago in 2014 and practiced extensivly in the USA until his appointment as Assistant Professor, Foundation Woodshop and Digital Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University Arts in Qatar in 2016. In 2011 Blackwell exhibited a major series GROTTO, an exhibition in 3 volumes, which was shown in Canberra, Melbourne and Chicago, supported through the Australia Council of the Arts. He has exhibited, facilitated artist residency programs and set up various artist run initiatives in Australia, USA, and the Middle East.

Richard Blackwell's work has been collected for ACT Legislative Assembly,Artbank, NAB Collection, The Justin Collection and he has undertaken several public commissions including the Mayfare Apartments, Canberra, 65 Mary Street, Brisbane and the NEXUS M+A Laneway Project, Brisbane, both undertaken with Urban Art Projects.

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