LocuLocu's latest series GreyNation, examines spirituality through the lens of quantum physics. The fourteen large scale works offer a window into the intangible and dimensionless landscape of cyberspace a world fraught with paradox and disembodied mythology. LocuLocu (Jolyon James and Raphael Ruz) are at the forefront of a wave of artists who recognise that in order to reflect the boundless dimensions of a digital age we need to look outside the realm of traditional photography.
The work confronts both visually and emotionally. The pair who first gained notoriety with their disturbing Anne Geddes inspired Infant Series in 2002, and unsettling digital landscapes (Rubik self, 2004) have further extended the boundaries of what we currently accept as photography. In Ant Farm self a colony of ants become living pixels, forced to negotiate a strange and hostile matchstick world. Helioscope self refracts a multiverse through the shattered glass of a motorcycle accident. And in Sampler self, the artist is transported to a cross-stitched nightmare sewn directly into the fabric of a found object.
While the prevailing mistrust of digital imagery has, until now been viewed as a limitation, for James and Ruz it means that photography is no longer required to stand as a harbinger of truth. In much the same way that photography itself paved the way for modern art by freeing artists from the need to portray reality, the increasing sophistication of digital technology has enabled photography to finally come of age. In the hands of LocuLocu photography has at last begun to live up to the literal promise of its name, drawing with light.
Melbourne 2005
Butterfly Self
type-c print ed of 5
Loculocu
is the on going collaboration between London based artist Jolyon James
and Melbourne based artist Raphael Ruz. The pair has been working since
'96 after founding the creative collective endersan [.com], which acts
as a cyber studio for their large-scale digital work. Loculocu explores
themes of displacement, identity against a backdrop of accelerating technology
and social uncertainty.
"Never before has technology been more immediate or more pervasive. Digital technology, specifically the internet, challenges us to actively participate in our information gathering. No longer are we passively absorbing information, but actively discarding it. Television invaded our homes disguised as a friend, the internet confronts us like a jealous lover."
Gloworm Self
type-c print ed of 5
Flower Self
type-c print ed of 5
Loculocu paint pictures with photographs. The work has evolved from highly stylised portraiture to hyper-real abstraction, crafting unexplored digital landscapes out of hundreds individual photographs. The viewer is thrust into the camera lucida of loculocu's mind and is simulataneously presented with an impossible array of perspectives.
Melbourne
2003