Recycled Artwork

"Five breaths assembled at the source" (2005)

This is a "black" window security grill made of metal (iron or steel?) which I found in the backgarden of a building I squatted with a few other people. One night I was drinking a few beers and decided to paint the whole grill white and then place it back on the outside of the window. I started to paint the edges first and after a few moments I lost myself in a relaxed feeling as the brush moved over the metal, I had never painted on metal before and I was surprised at how smooth and unexpectedly sensual it felt. I had no idea it was going to feel as it did, and no expectations of anything remotely creative happening; if anything I was expecting the brush to feel quite rough on a metal grill.

My sole intention was to paint the whole thing white and then maybe come back to it a few days later, and paint something on the white surface.....but something happened; I felt so calm and relaxed in a way that felt sensual and peaceful that without realising it at the time I had let the brush had wander from the edges of the grill to move over the surface of the whole thing in a short series of seemingingly random brush strokes which took no more than a mere 10 seconds or so. For some reason I then stopped to open up another beer. Then I looked back to finish painting over my "doodles" and saw what seemed to be an image of sorts.....so I filled in the bits that didn't seem to be part of the image, and this was the image that was left. This is what emerged from my unconscious brush stokes as I had literally just let my arm and hand wander about on the surface of the metal aimlessly with out realisng it, and with no intention to "create" anything at all except a completely white surface.

As the grill is full of small wholes the image is only really apparent when the grill is placed in front of a solid surface. I believe this image is is a small reflection of the human unconscious, what Jung called the "Collective Unconscious". I think of it as an unconscious act of creation, which makes me wonder if we as human beings were always destined to somehow creatively discover fire, and what other unseen images or connections do we have in our unconscious that we may be able to access creatively.

David Augustine