Contemporary Australia: Women

91 Ruth Hutchinson Incubator for cultivating realities (Past, present and future) (detail) 2011 Powder-coated mild steel, mirror, perspex, ceramic, synthetic polymer paint, stainless steel, aluminium, adhesive 146 x 75 x 75cm (excluding power cord) Opposite Constellation series (details) 2009–10 Watercolour on vellum 22 pieces: 4cm (diam., each); 4 pieces: 7cm (diam., each) thoughts connect — of the neural networks that process and make sense of what we see, feel and think. It is about cognition — exposed and bare. The work also explores the concept of what it is to be an artist — the processing of images and emotions, of inspirations and how one image leads to another. As Duchamp explained: . . . the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. 5 Hence, Incubator is a mapping of the imaginative synapses bringing together the many influences involved in both creativity and interpretation. Like Duchamp, Hutchinson forces us into a voyeuristic position, both literal and physical, within the public space of the gallery. Our voyeurism, in turn, becomes a spectacle for other gallery patrons. We stand at the junction of art and psychology, cognisant of the act of looking and being looked at, contemplating what the work is about and what is involved in the act of its decoding. Eyes, especially the single eye, are potent symbols in many religions and cultures, and are significant in the myth of Perseus. Also recurring motifs in Hutchinson’s work, eyes are yet another circular frame from which we view the world. Hutchinson explains: It is about the witnessing of objects and events, global and intimate, beautiful and tragic, public and secret, and everything in between. Torture, sickness, death and natural disasters as well as the small trials and tribulations of everyday existence; each breath, each heartbeat, each shiver, each blink, each smile and wink. Heart felt, heart strings, heart failure. 6 The essence of Ruth Hutchinson’s work explores what it is to see: to see oneself; to view an art work; to decode the collage of images populating our reality, imagination and memory. Many societies believe that the path to higher understanding is through the third eye, and a person who achieves this state of enlightenment is called a seer. Sarah Stratton