Boxed In

Boxed In, (2009). Tony Curran. Acrylic on transparent perspex.

It's been a long time. I've been spending a great deal on a bunch of things most importantly this new work which I submitted for the Australian National Youth Self Portraiture Award held at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Boxed In is a representation of my research into the phenomenology of visual representation. Here the three-dimensional subject yearns to escape a two-dimensionally composed representation. As the subject's attempt to be expressed is representationally limited he is trapped. This ideological sacrifice is depicted through the visual language of christian art as it is a readily recognisable and controversial theme. This creates the opportunity for more accessible debate. I have used a crucifixion composition. The transparent surface and media is akin to the stained glass windows seen in churches, and the depiction of "saints" who serve as additional representatives of the phenomenological argument around representational form. The iridescent gold is a reference to “false idols”, ancient sculpture and Nazi “Aryan” statues as a way to subvert ideologies that enforce a limited perspective of the world we live in.