 Outer/Inner Head (Ori ode/Ori inu) No. 4, 2011, acrylic, wool and graphite on canvas; diptych, each panel 46x48 inches, (overall size 46x96 inches) |
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VISUAL INTERACTIVE ELEMENT If you stare fixedly at the center of the painted left panel for about 10 seconds and then transfer gaze to the center of the right panel, you should 'see' the complementary color of the image just stared at. This experience of a light tint of the complementary color will remain visible for a few seconds. This visual experience of the after-image is my way of referring to the intangible yet real phenomenon which consciousness is, i.e. the inner head, called ori inu in Yoruba. Perception is the focus of my work. The Yoruba word for the head is - Ori, which means that which sees. I am fascinated by the complexities of how we see, especially how we see color in our minds as well as in our eyes, i.e. the way human eyes conjure up after-images of what has just been stared at, but in the complementary colors of the original images. This rather curious after-image effect raises, if not an outright contestation, at least a speculation about representation and reality itself. It is this phenomenology of perception that I explore in my diptychs, whilst in my sculpture pieces with mechanical eyes I explore the psychology of the gaze and what it means to be seen in this age of the CCTV camera. |