Peter Ainsworth

Anthropomorphized Sunflowers, 2012

A sensual relation of Ivy and Concrete, 2012

Two inadequate descriptions of one space: Photograph and Frottage, 2012

Edition of 500

The case can be argued that…intentional objects do not belong solely to the precious mental sphere of humans, but to any interaction between any two things whatsoever. Instead of calling them intentional objects, lets call them simply ‘images’ or ‘simulacra’ in less bulky and less psychologically burdened terminology’ Graham Harman, Towards Speculative Realism, Zero Books, 2010 pp159

The three publications submitted represent ideological and philosophical concerns I have with the representation of landscape through photography. They represent an engagement in my practice with the problems with perceptions of the manmade landscape, its ideological construct in the context of art, concerns surrounding my perceptions of sensual relations between objects and perceptions of a human centric universe.

In Anthropomorphized Sunflowers, 2012 the newspaper documents what appears to be a migration of static forms. The sunflowers, though routed to the spot feel as if they are an ebbing crowd of people; their actions having purpose and intent, though the sunflowers are faceless and silent forms. In A sensual relation of Ivy and Concrete, 2012 the differentiation between what societally would be perceived as a natural landscape and an organic form is explored. Landscape is described as something that is harmonious though in a state of flux. In the photographs the relation between objects is highlighted. Through the structure and formalist quality to the images I aim to draw ones attention to the idea that human perception is a rigid framework. Relations exist beyond the human but we are standing from a position where all our interactions are from a sensual perspective.

In Two inadequate descriptions of one space: Photograph and Frottage, 2012 (the title being a reference to Martha Rosler’s, “The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems, 1975). Here the publication is the result of a performance where I have divided parts of walls that support a storm drain into rectangles with masking tape. The work is a quixotic and non-exhaustive process of mapping. In a site surrounded on all sides by human infrastructure, I have recorded the surface patina of corroding concrete. In the pages of the newspaper I present two simulacra of the same space; pairing close-up photograph with alongside rubbings taken of the same area. The work is an amalgam of the space, two sensual relations, two inadequate descriptions placed side by side. My intention was to highlight the idea that the photograph has a more perceived direct relation to notions of the real and empirical evidence.

Within these works I am influenced by what philosopher Graham Harman refers to as ‘undermining’, a process of digging down into the nature of the object but a process that is ultimately fruitless as we will never reach a coherent and full understanding of what appears as something always withdraws from perception. An object is more than its sensual relations.

www.peterainsworth.co.uk

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