#12 Valency : Participants : Paul Malone

'The Chemistry of the Hadesphere'
Aluminium tube, dog toys, magnets, steel discs. 2023

The surface of the planet Venus lies beneath a dense cloud layer that has only recently been penetrated by landers visiting the surface and radar by orbiters. Before this time there was extensive speculation about what we would find there. This ranged from dense tropical forests, an oceanic waterworld or even an Earth-like emulation. In the 1950's there were some theories that Venus was very hot. These were based on the 'Ashen Light' phenomenon on the night side of the planet. This was thought to be global fires raging uncontrollably. Apart from these theorists no one predicted that the atmosphere was hot enough to melt lead and fewer still that the pressure would be similar to that of the bottom of the Earth's oceans.

Current consensus proposes that these features are the result of ‘runaway global warming’, however this does not fulfill all of the observed criteria. The artwork in this exhibition illustrates a model of the atmosphere (John Ackerman – ‘An Alernative Venus’, 2006) where the high temperature and pressure of the atmosphere includes a large component of the ring molecule Sulfur-8. This is the high temperature variant of sulphur which, at its sublimation temperature, exactly matches that of the Venusian surface. Combined with carbon, this molecule (CS) has a molecular weight of 44 – the same as Carbon Dioxide. This is vented from the 200,000+ volcanic ‘pancake’ features scattered across Venus in ballistic plumes. These add to the high density.

In the playful spirit of model making, this artwork has the ring Sulfur-8 molecule represented by beautifully irridescent dog toys. These are arrayed in the pattern of the absorption lines of sulfur along the length of a suspended tube. The column is off-set against the gravitational field as it approaches the surface of the planet. This incorporates the additional electro-magnetic charge field component which, in opposition to that of the Sun, is simultaniously slowing down the body of the planet and accelerating the winds of the upper atmosphere.

I have always been interested in the nature of the objective world; how it originated, how it maintains itself and how it is self evident. In parallel, I am also interested in consciousness and how it is related through its sensory perceptions.

In the early days, I became interested in constructing and assembling physical experiments to see how the perception of surfaces affected the comprehension of objective reality. It included the optical surface as indistinguishable from the intrinsic nature to which it was applied. I had in mind the assembly of ‘quasi-holograms’ but using material. The object is-what-it-is but its reality is perceptually interpreted as a constructed ontology.

Most recently I have been constructing models of the phenomena of ‘particulate aether’ and its effects on the natural world. This phenomenon is what I suspect is the underlying substrate between an object and consciousness, and how both sustain themselves.

My main theatre of curiosity is in astrophysics and associated fields. As many of my artworks concern grand concepts I enjoy employing toys, scavenged material and crass stupidity as a humorous counterpoint. In many ways they are in parallel with the English metaphysical poets and their ‘conceits'.

I studied Fine Art at Reading University for B.A. Degree in 1976 and MFA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 1980. During my time at college, and for the 40 years since leaving, I worked as a milkman in South Central London to live and fund my practice. In many ways a vital part of my education. I retired in 2020.

I have been resident in studios based in the London districts of Waterloo, Greenwich and, most recently, the Art in Perpetuity Trust in Deptford. I have exhibited extensively and sustain a curatorial practice through my Cipango and Ottica TV projects. I also have an extensive online presence both as an artist and as a curator since 1996. These can be found via my artist’s homepage below.

Website: Paul Malone