...on perspectives

Perspective is what we see when we look towards an horizon in nature, or towards an object that prevents further visibility  – which it always does in fact, even out at sea. By looking towards, and then beyond the horizon, perspective presents the illusion of reality through suggesting an invisible distance on a flat surface – as in a photograph or painting. Accurately representing three-dimensional perspective in art is a skill exercised through a combination of observations and mathematical grid measurements, thereby engaging the eye to look towards an unseen, hidden and imaginary vanishing point beyond the horizon, and mimicking the eye’s natural focus.  

David Hockney in ‘Secret Knowledge’ (2006, Thames & Hudson) revealed another ‘lost’ technique that advanced the search for naturalism and a realistic visual perspective. It was the use of optical devices over the mathematical lineal grid, especially for portraiture by which the rise of realism took hold. The ‘camera obscura’ (dark room), containing a glass lens, was a tracing device that was particularly useful in transferring flat patterns into a 3D illusion, such as folds in clothes – and faces. Many of the portraits Hockney researched were of the same size,  about 30x30cms, and of course being portraits the greater the likeness the more acceptable it would be.

Although there is no vanishing point evident, the illusion of an horizon is a powerful way to view this quilt, where the unseen (that which is beyond of the horizon) comes forward to be visibly present, and what is obviously visible on the surface recedes. Reading the quilt holistically, that is in terms of the Earth and the wider Universe, there is no left to right, nor is up/down fixed – both can be seen in reverse and on a wide variety of angles. As we know, no two sunrises or sunsets are the same. They depend on all sorts of factors: the time difference between daylight and dark hours over the seasons; weather conditions, place and time of observation. Such is the wonderful world of the imagination that is aroused through creating art. The sense of wonder, combined with a desire to leave my own impressions of these natural phenomena, persisted in spite of the material limitations. This wall hanging is a celebration of both sunrise and sunset, beginnings and endings - in all their glory. It reminds us to 'carpe diem' – every single one that we have the fortune to live in.