Michael Graeve (b. 1971, Australia)
Relation, Unschärfe, 2020
Simple Methods for Complex Times (Turntable Orchestra), 2005-2020

After having combined painting and sound in “Too Little Too Much”, I can no longer exclude Graeve from the list. That particular media combination has seemed interesting, but mainly on the side of ‘exotic’ – until they converged enough in my head to appear highly related.

Nowadays I am quite keen to consider painting as durational art form – both in the process of its painting, but also in appreciation. Surely, there are paintings that appear to deliver all they have at the first glance, but in many cases it take quite a dance of the eyes to take it in, occasionally it may even choreograph the whole body – enticing to take a step back to take it all in and step forward to look closer at some detail etc. Sound, on the other hand, tends to invoke visual imagery in my head. Often it is quite structural, and there sonic and visual elements can also meet on equal terms, enacting comparable structures in their respective ways. After all, separation of vision and hearing (not to speak of all the other senses) is quite unusual and, in most cases, rather artificial situation in everyday life…

Titles of the works above are also of interest to me. Blurriness has been one of my favourite tools lately, while opposition to simple methods for complex situations has been one of the central themes in the background.

But, sure, all that blurriness and odd convergence might indicate a state of hypnosis. I wonder, what else I’ve been programmed to do without knowing.