Technique: Bas-relief
Edition: -
Catalogue raisonne: -
Dimensions: 91.5 x 121.7 x 9.5 cm
Inscriptions: -
Provenance: Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased in 2011 from Andrew Baker Art Dealer
Credit line: -
Accession no.: 2011.40
Copyright line: Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer
Austin's prolific Imperfect Pattern series of bas-relief constructions, spanning more than a decade, is some of his most recognisable work. Created three years into the series, Time-Life (2005) is typical of Austin's formal and conceptual enquiry, configuring found materials into intricate, repetitive patterns that explore ideas of opposition and contradiction (Hawker, 2009; UQAM, 2013).
A desire to understand the underlying structure of things sees Austin draw heavily on the sciences, in particular physics and mathematics (UQAM, 2013). In Time-Life, he takes an abstract geometric pattern – a series of rhomboids linked in continuous chains – and gives it materiality in the physical world, shifting from the realm of pure to applied geometry, a priori to synthetic knowledge, the 'ideal' to the 'real' (Institute of Modern Art, 2009; UQAM, 2013). A dialogue is established between Plato's eternal, unchanging, Ideal Forms that constitute the universe, and contemporary advances in sub-atomic theory which point to fluidity, complexity and chaos (UQAM, 2013). The seeming perfection of the work – perceived in its order, symmetry and balance – is belied by a knowledge, imparted in the series' title, that Austin has deliberately rendered the pattern imperfect. It is at once ideal and anti-ideal.
A further oppositional relationship is explored between two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, and in turn between art and objecthood. Time-Life occupies a space between the pictorial and the sculptural, akin to the general shift in contemporary practice towards hybrid forms (UQAM, 2012). The influence of Minimalism is evident not only in serial grids and geometric shapes, but in the anti-illusory use of machine-fabricated, grey mat-board which confers a tactile, object status on the work (Austin, 2009; Institute of Modern Art, 2009; UQAM, 2013). Austin's playfulness with spatial ambiguity and serial repetition also points to his interest in Op Art; a mesmerising perceptual effect is created by the movement of light across intricate patterns oscillating between surface and depth (Hawker, 2009; Kubler, 2008, 45; UQAM, 2013). The perceptual experience changes depending on vantage point, exposing an inherent dichotomy between the object's fixed, solid nature and the fluidity of the viewer's relationship to it (Hawker, 2009; UQAM, 2013).
Austin also moves beyond the two- and three-dimensional to introduce a fourth dimension to his work – time. At an experiential level, it takes the viewer time to physically engage with the object from its multiple perspectives, and the artist himself sees his own art production as a measurement of time, a capturing of moments (Austin, 2009). At a philosophical level, Austin is interested in the infinite, knowing the pattern he represents can replicate forever, breaking beyond the limits of his constructed object (UQAM, 2013). The title, Time-Life, is an inversion of the concept, 'life-time', contrasting the infinite nature of time, geometry and perhaps even the enduring art object, with the finite life of the artist (and, by implication, the viewer).
There is a strong sense of the poetic in Austin's work and he is part of a long lineage of artisans who have used pattern and geometry to convey metaphor (Austin, 2014). The object, replete with its tensions and contradictions, becomes a vehicle for reflecting on human nature, provoking questions about the fleetingness of our perception and the limitations of the categories we construct (Austin, 2009; UQAM, 2013).
References:
Lincoln Austin, 'CV', 2014 - www.lincoln-austin.com.au
Lincoln Austin, 'Made to measure exhibition, 2009 - www.lincoln-austin.com.au
Rosemary Hawker, OpenClosed: Lincoln Austin, Sean Phillips, Arryn Snowball, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, 2012
Institute of Modern Art, 'Field of Vision: Interview with Robert Leonard', 2009 - http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/1778-lincoln-austin
Alison Kubler, 'Great Divide', Artlines, No.3, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008, p.45
The University of Queensland Art Museum, 'Ten Years of Things: Curators Samantha Littley and Gordon Craig and exhibiting artist, Lincoln Austin, talk about the exhibition', 20 February 2013 - http://www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au/content/ten-years-of-things
The University of Queensland, 'Ten Years of Things', UQ News, 23 November 2012 - http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2012/11/ten-years-of-things
The University of Queensland Art Museum, 'Lincoln Austin, Time-Life 2005: Collection database' - http://www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au/collection/search.php?request=search
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