CONSIDERING CONSCIOUSNESS
Fascinated by the internal workings of the mind, Mona Choo uses the medium of drawing
to meticulously chart her exploration of consciousness and reality. Erin Irwin writes.
“The subject of consciousness and the nature of reality, as a topic of study, can be a lifelong pursuit to put it mildly”, jokes Tasmania-based artist Mona Choo. From spiritual studies to quantum mechanics, brain science and alternate dimensions, to geometry – sacred or otherwise – Choo has spent a lifetime delving into the many ways humans have tried to navigate the concept of the self.
Even today, there is no consensus on what consciousness is. The core concept is the notion of the individual existing as a being that perceives matter or reality whilst thinking or experiencing sensation, but after that? We think, therefore we are, and everything else is up for debate (even René Descartes’ famous maxim).
This leaves fertile ground for Choo, who is very research driven in her practice. “I don’t adhere to any particular medium or method of creation” she says, “the medium comes after the concept. My primary focus is on the subject matter and content of the work”. She has worked across painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture, often combining them in experimental ways in order to best make tangible her chosen topic. The artist even recalls a particularly tricky foray into printing and drawing on polycarbonate plastic, which she would then distort by applying heat – sometimes with disastrous effect. Nevertheless, Choo is steadfast in her approach, continuously seeking to break new ground in order to make tangible her metaphysical pursuits.
Choo has been a practicing artist for 30 years, having originally studied at the illustrious Central Saint Martins at the University of the Arts, London. Her initial discipline of choice was printmaking, which has had a lifelong effect, the artist saying that “the habit of thinking and working in layers is something that still remains in my practice today”. She has been busy ever since, having been awarded the inaugural International Print Artist-in-Residence at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as participating in exhibitions across the globe, including presentations in Singapore, UK, USA, Hong Kong, and Australia. She has been nominated as a finalist in a number of prizes, including Sydney’s Tom Bass Prize for Figurative Sculpture, and her works are represented in the permanent collections of the Singapore Art Museum and the Macau Printmaking Research Centre.
/ The idea is that everything begins with consciousness. In other words, our thoughts shape our reality. / MONA CHOO
But the artist is not done yet by any stretch of the imagination. Having come upon the subject of consciousness over a decade ago, the artist has found a wealth of theoretical and transcendental approaches to the subject to explore. Choo works in both figuration and abstraction, stylistically preferring a balanced approach to colour and intuitive mark making. This can clearly be seen in her latest body of work, The Geometry of Thought, which was recently shown at Handmark Gallery in Hobart.
Gentle swathes of colour are slowly built up across an immense surface measuring over two metres wide, with complex starbursts of line navigating across and around them. There is a sense of both order and chaos, as well as a slow unfolding of form as it emerges from voids of deep black or the edges of the composition. Abstraction is used here to construct a narrative of consciousness’ slow transition into matter, the artist explaining: “the idea is that everything begins with consciousness. In other words, our thoughts shape our reality”. From the unknown flows the known, and this affects our perception of existence, called forth here in fluttering passages of reds and blues and striking white lines.
Experimental and explorative, Choo’s work is an ongoing consideration of the virtually endless ways we, as ostensibly thinking beings, assess and justify this ability to think. No one perspective can fully encompass the various explanations we have come up with for this phenomenon, with no one theory able to encompass our many subjective experiences. Thus, no one medium can make tangible these philosophical conundrums. By letting her exhaustive research guide her practice, Choo brings her audience on a journey into the unknown, letting us peer behind the veil of reality.
Above: Artist Mona Choo. Courtesy: the artist.
