The painting can push away the gaze as much as pull it in. So that looking can become a physical, self-aware activity.
Bertolt Brecht developed the idea of âVerfremdungseffekt' as a âmaking strange' a deliberate act of detachment, distancing an individual from the emotional experiences that wear down their capacity for action.
This alienating effect aids the audience in becoming a consciously critical observer but it also leads them towards a situation of âNegative Capability'....âwhen one is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason'.
The paintings of R. M Phoenix are intertwined with these ideas of uncertainty and responsibility. They are a process of exploration in a constant effort to re-order, re-frame and repeat relationships between reality and the manner in which it is being perceived.
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