artist statement - presence

Experience an astonishing inner world with presence, a series of haunting images by Australian photographer Colin Vickery.

Inspired by psychoanalyst Cari Jung's writings on 'the collective unconscious' as well as the paintings of US Abstract Expressionist Richard Poussette-Dart, Vickery pursues spiritual transcendence through abstract works.

presence features twenty enlargements described as 'landscapes of the soul' - mystic shapes floating in agitated fields of muted colour.

These timeless images dig into the viewer's subconscious and conjure allusions to starscapes, ancient markings and the beginning of the universe.

They demand to be both absorbed from a distance and examined in close-up as viewers take in their full power.

Australian photography critic, Freda Freiberg, says: "Colin's fine prints display a certain cool expressionism.  Precisely detailed but ambiguous in reference, these grainy prints suggest the solidity of a cross-section of rock, the grittiness of granules of sand, and the airiness of celestial spaces."

The images in presence encourage contemplation as viewers become immersed in the intricate fields and allow the shapes to resonate in their minds.