“All perceiving is also thinking, all reasoning is also intuition, all observation is also invention.” (Rudolf Arnheim)

The ‘Cognitive Spaces Project’ was developed through an exploration of the cutting-edge neuroscientific research into visual perception and cognition. My work conducts a contemporary examination of the limits of painting illusion, applying visual phenomenon and optical illusion as a method of analysis. This line of inquiry stems from my interest in how we cognitively digest and form opinions on information presented to us in our post-truth, high speed info-technological era.

The site specific painting installations adopt architectural spaces we occupy. Perspectives both spatially and conceptually are dissected and reassembled, manipulating and altering these spaces. The results present an interactive visual expression of the complexities, tensions and contradictions which often play out in our understanding of our contemporary existence. The intention is to heighten critical thinking through focusing on the capabilities of our internal information processing, encouraging the audience to question and evaluate their interpretations.

These installations cross the boundaries of age, education, race, creed, culture and language by generating the same disorientating physiological sensation in each viewer, illuminating our commonalities as opposed to our differences. In this way, the work has Utopian intentions.