Fluctuate, 2018
Water based oil paint, mount board, and plywood
21 x 42 cm each
Fluctuate was created in response to Shifting Contexts’ proposed theme Relocate. Fluctuate addresses the relevance of relocation from a mundane perspective, rather than more momentous movements that may be associated with the word.
In the act of daily relocation, the opportunity to take in new surroundings and encounters is presented. These happenings can take form through materialistic influences, social interactions or moments of solitude in such spaces. It is these daily, yet lived, transitions in location that form the foundation of our life experiences, subsequently, making up the majority of our actuality.
Fluctuate’s visuals derive from data obtained during the artist’s personal daily relocations. Over the span of one week, every hour between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm, a scaling of mood fluctuation in relation to classified environments was taken. These observations went on to inform the paintings’ formal properties.
The work’s process and outcome aims to bring about a sense of mindfulness on how subtle shifts in location impact one’s state of being. Fluctuate conceptually aims to prompt contemplation on the potentiality of one’s habitual relocation, both negative and positive. Such observations are something that can easily be bypassed in this generation’s fast paced way of life.
The Works Transition From Data to Visuals
Fluctuate visualizes one week’s worth of notings. The seven horizontal rows each represent one day from the week. Each horizontal row is divided into five panels, breaking down the day’s fifteen hours into three hour intervals. Each painted rectangular form, marks one hour in a day.
Mood fluctuation was scaled from 1 - 5, 1 being lowest and 5 being optimal. This determined how high or low the mark was made on each panel. Time of the day determined how far along the row the mark was placed, and location determined the colour of the mark itself. Recognition was given to the following classified locations; Natural, Social and Urban Environments, Home Space, Work Space and when In Motion. Each of the mentioned environments was allocated a colour based on colour association theories. For example the warming yellow represents Home Space, while the cold grey represents Urban Environments.
The panels were placed in a collective manner so as to group the body of work in a way that the varying fluctuation in mood influenced through the artist’s daily relocation could be demonstrated. The work was then accompanied with a booklet titled Archive, which collate all of the artist’s notings during the reflective process. This allowed viewers to make better sense of the visuals’ roots, if they wished to do so. Small diaries with empty templates for the same reflective process to be filled were also provided. This was done as an extension of the work’s creation, providing the viewer with the opportunity of mindfulness towards relationship between mind, mood and location.
This collective exhibition was curated by Dr. Trevor Borg and supported by Shifting Context and Agenzija Zghazagh.