James de Villiers

Artists

Work Title: "The Architecture of Air"

Clouds move, migrate, transform, spontaneously appear, disappear. They can be read as the perpetual transience of both physical and spiritual existence. Clouds mystify: one can read images into them, divinate and forecast the weather. Clouds are prime examples of apparently randomly patterned behaviour, but depending on the prevailing wind conditions and height of the clouds, various shapes and densities are formed. The light conditions play a great role in the appearance of clouds. Clouds may be seen to dissipate in rhythmic ways, this also applies to their formation. Air is of course essential to these "water" clouds, and this brings me to the conclusion that clouds reflect the structure or "architecture" of the air. Hence I have named this project : "The Architecture of Air".

The physicist, Rutherford, built a cloud chamber to observe the paths of sub-atomic particles: thus the cloud is an instrument in mapping physical manifestations on a normally invisible level. The manifestation of energy journeying through various points. The air lifts moisture and causes through its motion vast intercontinental travels. From space the Earth is defined by its spectacular and organically spiraling cloud layers.

I look upon these manifestations as natures "mandalas". Mandalas are patterns mostly used in the East to induce altered states of consciousness and awareness in the viewer through the application of geometric principles and symbolism. However these are static images. One can be absorbed into a highly meditative condition by watching clouds transform themselves into infinite patterns. In this way they also relate to fractals which are found as a patterned form of chaos in most interactions in nature and matter. Fractals can be generated by computer and provide insights into the behaviour of patterns and reactions occurring in nature. I am interested in the interconnectiveness of phenomena.

James de Villiers Water is the basis of clouds. The vapour formed by water on the ground forms clouds at the appropriate height and temperature. Water is presented in another state of its essential being. Ghosts, souls, phantoms and spirits have in popular imagery been represented by the various forms of water vapour, namely mists, fogs and in some instances, smoke. Smoke is also relevant in that it behaves in certain ways similar to water based clouds. It too is a manifestation of another state of the matter from which it derived, but in its case cannot revert to the substance which produced it. Air often carries in its currents unwanted passengers, its composition being influenced by the various smoke it gathers through fires, disasters, war and pollution. The same air has been in existence for millennia. It is possible in one breath to inhale molecules which have been in the lungs of Gandhi and Hitler. The same is true for water; both of these compounds and mixtures recycle and migrate.

The fascination of clouds: the production of life-supporting rain, hail, mist, moisture. The tactical use of mist and fog in hunting and armed combat and also the cause of disaster in the air, on land and at sea. The obscuring of vision or the refuge provided.

"Alchemical" is the word I would use to describe the essential nature of clouds. That is the transmutation of various material and non-material aspects into other forms.

Storms; a source of primal terror bring lightning, thunder, rain, hail and at times chaotic destruction. The storm cloud is looked at as a harbinger of various disasters or relief from drought. Clouds so dense with moisture that they obscure the sun and momentarily turn nature on its head. Day becomes night and with the ferocity of the lightning, night becomes day. The electrical connection of mighty forces between the earth and the heavens is initiated. This brings forth the image of a masculine, explosive and energetic sky and a receptive feminine earth constantly being nurtured and fertilised.

In all these activities there is to be found a random but at times cyclical pattern of primal forces. There is a very direct reflection of the duality of existence, good and bad, maleficent or benevolent. The constant changes and the "death" of clouds as they give birth to rain are reminiscent of life in general and the existential nature of our existence.

I have embarked on a production utilising forms of randomness generated within the computer itself as thumbnail sketches initially and then, conversely, structured formats painted in the traditional medium of oil paint using classical techniques to allow the essence of my perception of clouds to come into play. I have used sound constructions generated on the computer and played over four loudspeakers mounted in a column-like structure to represent the random like structures of air and the framework around which the images are based. The nature of the sounds are random, formed by electronic noise but manipulated to a certain degree bringing an "aesthetic" but still primal sense to the combined composition. I have taken clouds and concretised them rather than let them behave naturally. This is a contradictory position which prompts another sense of reality. I deal with measurements, metamorphosis and patterning. It is an attempt to reconnect to these primal concepts of energies.

James de Villiers
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James de Villiers

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Work Title: "The Architecture of Air"