Josh Bullen + Catherine Conceicao: Silicon Artists
06 - 28 June 2015

 

Josh Bullen + Catherine Conceicao are the Australian artist duo - The Silicon Artists.

They describe their collaboration as: ..more about experimenting with different mediums and exploring their possibilities... After a couple of years, peers started to emerge, artists like Dale Frank entered our artistic vocabulary and when compared, has very similar modes of expression and use of paint. Other artists not dissimilar to us, such as Sydney based artist Jonny Niesche are also pushing the boundaries of how paint should be used and reinterpreted. I guess one day, theorists will pigeonhole us into a movement. We just hope the work will fit into visual splendour and be appreciated for beauty to walk hand in hand with philosophical waffle...

Silicon was introduced into our work partly due to desire but ultimately for necessity. When we first started collaborating, we experimented with polyurethane. Polyurethane has a mind of its own and can end up the way you didn’t intend...SILICON was adopted and became the perfect solution... Not only did the silicon work so well for us in terms of solving a problem for our art but silicon generally has also gone on to become so symbolic of our times. Silicon is a product that we believe is definitive of the times we live in. Silicon is synonymous with technological change, its use in modern production has forwarded the computer age and has literally redefined who we are as humans...

Although the artworks are figurative, the figures within the paintings have lost their personality and adopted uniforms to portray the idea that modern life can lead to isolation. As technology speeds forward, humanity slowly removes itself from physical contact. Conversation happens whilst being in separate locations,.. Will social encounters eventually not rely upon the senses and be wrapped in an outer layer suit protecting us from external contact?

We see every work of art produced like a marriage of two minds without the traditional ceremony... The spaceman is a motif that is deeply ingrained into our artistic production. When a figure enters the picture it inevitably ends up wearing a space suit... 


Josh Bullen + Catherine Conceicao 2015

Collections: Art Bank
Private Collections: Australia and Internationally