the artist in Permittivity
Artist Paul Malone researches lost and forgotten theories of science and natural philosophy to inform his artwork. These take the form of 'cosmological conceits' where epic themes of celestial mechanics are re-imaged using common everyday materials. These can take the form of installations, incorporating projections, to small scale machined artefacts. Ideas are often sketched out in the form of movie shorts that are accompanied by generated sound-scapes and text-to-voice synthesis. Other threads involve using the computer's ability to zoom and vectorize in order to travel to other stars and explore these virtually generated landscapes.
the artwork in Permittivity
'WalkThrough' consists of a vertically orientated screen embedded in a mobile box. Because of its orientation it naturally reflects whatever is above it in its location. Being on wheels, there is the assumption that its state of potential is that of free movement. And indeed this is the case; but not all of the time. To make up, this potential is transferred to the content displayed on the screen. This consists of a 'walk-through' of the gallery and its immediate environment, with the camera pointing vertically, in emulation of the reflection on the glass.
However, this formal equivalence is not quite the whole story. Of course, here is not just any kind of space but an art gallery. There have been art works that analyse the relationship of art objects to the context of the gallery but 'WalkThrough' attempts a synthetic on this theme. The box itself has a surface that subverts its construct (though never completely disguising it) through an a-gravitational patina of white and gold powder. The movie is not a direct observation of what the camera sees but is a cartoon interpretation; as if hinting at a simpler narrative. What appears to be an exercise in the self-referential reinterprets instead into the permittivity of metaphor.
