2018 Jan Cleveringa- Scenic Sculpture Prize- 'Imagining the Past Before it Happens'

Artist ~ Jan Cleveringa
Title ~ 'Imagining the Past Before it Happens'
2018 / Photo: artist
Art Installation- 5,000 fluoro light globes.

Review by Gina Fairley, ArtsHub

http://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/visual-arts/gina-fairley/review-sculpture-at-scenic-world-255553?utm_source=ArtsHub+Australia&utm_campaign=d58fa0bb37-UA-828966-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2a8ea75e81-d58fa0bb37-304183937

I've recently installed at Scenic Sculpture 2018 commenting about sustainability, big business and a future.

Set in the Jurassic Rainforest.

Special thanks to Harry, Clytie and @justinmorrissey for installation support.

2017 Jan Cleveringa- Doin the Math- Sculpture

'Doing the Math' is a factory and commodified looking sculpture made from recycled materials using a dispersed angular form talking about technological rebirth, change by stealth, slow cultural change and waste-renewal much likened to a "zero sum game".

"In game theory and economic theory, a zero-sum game is a mathematical representation of a situation in which each participant's gain or loss of utility is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the utility of the other participants.

(2017: Zero-sum game - Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_game)

The artwork is made from fluorescent light bulbs which are being slowly replaced by new LED technology. The artist recognizes and points to the change, as an idea whereby the change is occurring almost insidiously by stealth and unknown, as generally only a few people in society recognize the global change that is occurring and its potential impact socially in our culture and subsequently in people's lives and it's affect when digesting, sharing and refashioning the environment thus impacting unconsciously on identity.

Furthermore, the artist explores ideas around waste and sustainability and a Call to Action regarding 'Green Power' and it's parameters.

2016 Jan Cleveringa- "The Passing"- Hidden Sculpture Exhibition

As a contemporary artist who explores impacts of global cultural change and identity.  "The Passing", is a grave top installation sculpture made from 1,000 fluorescent light bulbs at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, as part of Hidden Sculptural Exhibition Rookwood Cemetery 2016 that won a commended award.

The Installation is a representation about slow cultural change affecting identity, waste and renewal.

It raises further questions about time, sustainability, the environment and the machine of business which partly influences identity formation and culture. In other words, it is about recognizing the impact of changing technologies on our culture, our attitudes and social patterns and what drives these changes.

It is a slow phenomenon where most of us seem oblivious to its effects in the many areas of human interaction like industry, the home and our future. Fluorescent lighting is being replaced by LED lighting.

Will this small change influence architecture, the backyard BBQ, mining, travel and reception areas? Will it affect our social patterns?

Are we recognizing these changes and impacts?

www.parramattasun.com.au/story/4194337/cemetery-comes-to-life/

"Epiphany"- Light Art Projection Installation- Finalist 2016 Chippendale New World Art Prize

"Epiphany," (a projection onto canvas) is inspired by colour, beauty and the spiritual uses new world technology much like a painter that sketches a study for a painting. I have misused phone app software to make electronic sketches as small as 2kb in size (rather than pencil) that have been enlarged, changed and continually developed and screenshot until I have been satisfied in its final form for an oil painting or this projection work which goes onto canvas. This particular work asks- is it a painting, a photograph, a projected light work, a moving image, a technological installation, an abstract work or realism? Is it about technology and beauty?
‘Epiphany’ uses the aesthetics of and the discipline of painting (once claimed as ‘dead’) where painting continues to be inspired by new and exciting technologies that also seem to impact on our social culture, identity, beauty and the everyday.

There are about 2-3 Billion people using mobile phone app edited images distorting their reality to make their lives and reflective images seem more beautiful than they really are and thus creating a pseudo reality phenomenon. How does this influence attitudes about identity and beauty? What are the social consequences on the human psyche, its impact and our attitudes in contemporary society?