Perception and Perspective

Painted wooden chairs

This artwork featured in All Alone, 2021. A Meadow Arts commission.

A series of vibrantly painted wooden chairs placed at specific points in the landscape invite visitors to sit and contemplate in solitude. Their ornate 18th and 19th century design directly references furniture found in Croft Castle and was chosen to emphasise the history of the landscape. Bold and vibrant colours, characteristic of Edie’s practice, are used to alter the aesthetic presentation of the chairs and create an incongruous and distinctive intervention in the landscape.

The physical work is accompanied by a digital element inspired by the 18th century concept of the ‘Claude Glass’ – a hand-held polished surface, designed to reflect and frame the image of a landscape with a painterly feel. Edie proposes a connection between the Claude Glass and the photographic filters ubiquitously found in the camera apps of mobile devices, acknowledging that humans have always desired to capture, frame and aesthetically control the beauty of the natural world.

Edie has created a series of camera filters, accessed through the Instagram app, designed to mimic the effects of the Claude Glass or otherwise enhance or distort the outside world through the framing of a mobile camera. She approaches this medium critically, considerate of both the value of increased access to digital tools for creative expression and the connections these platforms propose; but she is also mindful that these platforms and the organisations that power them can cause harm and further isolate the individual.

Edie’s Instagram filter will be available here from 24 July 2021.

Image: Edie Jo Murray, Perception and Perspective, installation view, All Alone, Croft Castle, 2021. Image courtesy of Meadow Arts. Photographer, Stefan Handy.

 

About the artist

Edie Jo Murray

Edie Jo Murray exhibited in All Alone, Croft Castle, 2021.