26 Jun 2012 - Electric Reflections
“Electric Reflections-Electronic Permutations of an Inner Landscape?”
“Electric Reflections-Electronic Permutations of an Inner Landscape?” by Robert Fourie
About the Artist
Robert Fourie is a lecturer in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Aside from his academic interests, particularly in Deafness, he is interested in personal development through explicit forms of visual expression. The pieces of art in this exhibition were not originally intended for public display, but were part of a personal yearning and process of understanding of the Self in relation to “the World”. Perhaps this is the unspoken goal of every artist. Each piece therefore represents a non-verbal reflection on the inner landscape of the artist. Like the elements of a dream, each piece of art projects onto canvas as an “other-like” object, which in turn represents some unconscious aspect of the subjective self – elements which cannot always be expressed verbally. Therefore, the art in this exhibition is not meant for the purposes of beauty, instead reflecting, sometimes in fragmented ways, an unresolved conflict within the artist. Robert has been creating pieces of art since his childhood, almost always using vivid colours to express meaning. This may be related to the fact that Robert is registered blind with a severe visual impairment (Retinitis Pigmentosa), which results in a muted experience of colours – and thus the need to compensate for this by increasing contrast and depth of colour in his work. For such the computer is an ideal medium, providing a ready means of experimenting with colour, contrast and magnification.
