What does the future of earth look like?
In light of the current climate crisis, this question evokes anxiety and uncertainty, undermining safe distinctions between present and future, fate and determinism. My practice seeks answers in abstract collages which visualise chaotic and unfamiliar futures.
Beginning with randomly generated plywood cutouts, I extensively re-paint and rearrange these forms as compositions evolve. In Fate and Forecast, I consider this process as a form of divination. I search the chance configurations of colour and shape for imagery that resonates with forecasts of environmental change. Like climate models or worlds described in science fiction, this is an imaginative exercise through which to consider the impact of speculative futures on the present.
The resulting pictures vacillate uneasily between the natural and artificial, chaos and order, as their fragmented, biomorphic surfaces invite jarring contrasts of hue, chroma and value. Far from palatable, edenic utopias, my collages offer feverish visions of endless worlds to come, full of creative abundance, chaotic upheaval and cataclysmic vigour. – Mitch Donaldson
Opening Event: 30 September from 6pm
Image: Mitch Donaldson, Night Air 2021, Acrylic on plywood and hardboard panel, 122 x 92 cm
