28
Eugene Carchesio
Thief of Light
2010
artist book, edition of 4, watercolour on archival paper, accompanied by electronic display
Space Light Transmission
2010
audio, 17:54 minutes
Volume
2010
single-channel video projection with sound, 4:29 minutes
With simple and unpretentious materials including paper, cardboard and watercolour, Eugene
Carchesio’s works are continuous meditations on themes of geometry, figurative symbolism, the
material and immaterial. Producing three works for the
Light from Light
exhibition, Carchesio
demonstrates the breadth and interconnectedness of his interests in light, shape and sound.
Thief of Light
, an artist book in watercolour on archival paper, was hand-produced and
hand-bound in an edition of four at the Conservation Laboratory at the State Library of
Queensland, as part of a special residency for the project. The 40 page text-based work references
the illuminated manuscript, though aside from the sparing use of gold foil on the cover lettering,
Carchesio’s minimal and non-decorative approach seems almost ascetic by comparison. In his
hand-drawn sans-serif font, the artist riffs on notions of light, drawing together secular and
spiritual notions of enlightenment through his rhythmically timed word play. In the exhibition, the
book is accompanied by a digital text-only edition complete with Chinese translations, generating
new layers of meaning, as well as formal contrasts between the analogue and digital.
Space Light Transmission
is a sound work that was exhibited exclusively at the State Library of
Queensland’s listening booths. With tongue in cheek, the artist’s instruction to ‘Listen to this until
you see the lights of your inner mind’ suggests the work might transform the public space of the
library’s busy second level into a site for a transcendental mode of consciousness. Continuing this
project of generating reflection and meditation in the institutional environs,
Volume
is an
audio-visual installation created with the library’s vacant auditorium spaces in mind. In this
experimental foray into digital imagery, Carchesio merges his long-held interests in geometry,
colour, rhythm, harmony and dissonance.
Space Light Transmission
2010, installed in the library’s existing
audio station
