Introduction -
Rius Carson - Digital Self

“The title of show is Digital Self. my thinking behind this title is that we all exist in this reality constantly looking to the future for all the answers to our self-made problems and dilemmas ….as we are becoming more and more reliant on tech our phones and internet always at our fingertips forevermore changing the way we engage with reality or our world, with huge computer systems constantly monitoring recording and analyzing our every thought and feel conveyed through social media, we are becoming assimilated becoming more the same by the way of subtle global influences manipulated for a skewed idealism by global capitalism. the technology will soon be a part of us perhaps our next leap in human evolution.

in my smaller works I am recreating myself using the same pieces but in a different way each time, cutting up my own catalogs from my last exhibition using the central image from this painting and collaging them back together to recreate this image of self same same but different. with an external shroud that hold the collaged image within indicating a more fuller self….also reflecting the symbolism of the key hole….opening the doorway to beyond. these images also bare a resemblance of religious iconography art. the outer background created by gluing finally crushed siltstone taken from drilling samples across Victoria, these natural pigments create a sensation of groundedness with there earthy textures….the works are all assimilated by their use of the same materials but all retain a semblance of individuality with in their identicallity, hopefully this subtle sense of individuality within us all will always create a variant in our computer predicted reality of the future…always someone thinking unpredictably….

the inner image I suppose can be related to the ideas around constructed spirituality as technology as our religion a dichotomy between printed reality and printed reality reconstructed re invented through creativity of the human mind….these works for me are imbued with an almost voodoo black magic mysticism cutting up images of former works recreating ideas discovered through making the original….making reflections of self…..then infusing the ground up rock that I drill into for daily work to create art…..my savior and destroyer…”

Rius Carson | August 2016