Colours to make you think and feel

EXPLOSIVE colours and patterns are filling the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Backspace.

The exhibition of 12 paintings by visual artist Ebony Gulliver has been developed to incite the mind-body connection, getting viewers’ bodies to think, and their minds to feel.

“I’m fascinated by consciousness, and how we arrived at this amazing gift that we have,” she said.

“In the past, we’ve divided the mind and the body, looking at the brain as an analytical thinking machine, and the body as something separate with its senses. I don’t believe that’s reality.

“The body, the mind, emotions, and senses are tangled up together in how we see the world.

“My work encourages people to let go of the distractions of everyday life, to be present in the moment as they experience it, and hopefully something happens in their bodies, in their brains; something visual, something feeling.”

Gulliver said she always explores embodiment within her practice, not limiting herself to using traditional paper or canvas, which have been framed or stretched.

Her process involves lots of taping and layering, and if a layer doesn’t work, she paints over it and starts again.

“There are a lot of paintings hidden within these paintings in Backspace and in terms of how they’ve been mounted to the wall, they’re quite sculptural,” Gulliver said.

“The back of the work has also been painted, designed to give the work itself an aura, so the light bounces behind them and reflects the painting on the back onto the wall.

“Most of my work, even my more traditional paintings, I display as an installation, so it’s meant to be an encompassing environment that people experience, as opposed to individual works that they look at.”

Thinking Body, Feeling Mind is on display until March, and Gulliver said she hopes those who experience it leave happy.

“I worried about needing to be serious, but it’s been nice to acknowledge that actually just because people have a good time when they see the work doesn’t mean I’m not talking about serious things,” she said.