Timeless: An Exploration of Meditation and Ambient Space
The world as we know it has come to a pause. Many things we took part in daily: work, school, social life, and travel, just simply aren’t possible. There has been so much change in such a short amount of time. My own thesis has become a part of this change, too, as my mind is no longer focused on the same things it was only a couple months ago. Living in one of the world’s busiest metropolitan cities, I find this drastic shift both astounding and terrifying. It’s new territory for all of us. In these times, which are anything but normal, I am caught between two extremes. As the days go by, I feel my thoughts constantly pulled from order into discord, from chaos into peace. There’s nothing in this small apartment to distract me from myself and thethoughts that I tend to dwell on. When there’s nothing but deafening silence to fill a room, what happens to us? When we feel the most alone, what happens to us? When our reality comes to a screeching halt, what happens? Where do our thoughts go? Or rather, where does this silence take us? These are all questions I’ve been asking myself lately. There’s a certain quality to space, the stillness that surrounds us without external stimulus to keep us distracted. My series is about depicting the beauty of ambience, from both a visual and mental perspective.
Since the goal is to make the viewer feel like they’re in the settings I’m illustrating, there are certain aspects of visual narrative that I want to focus on in order to develop the space within the canvas. Creating depth is important for making my series feel more tangible. By using linear and atmospheric perspective in my compositions, I can emulate a deeper visual of what a space full of ambience would feel like. Light is another concept I’m currently focused on. From a source, it interacts with various kinds of objects in different ways within space. The way light filters through a window or reflects off a body of water, for example, tends to be a major point of focus in my work. Another aspect I’m bringing into my series is color. Exploring color relationships in tandem with what I want the viewer to feel is a part of recreating a visual appeal reminiscent of dreams. Knowing when to switch between cool and warm color, as well as combining them with the light source have proven to be a challenge, but pays off in bringing the desired effect. I want everything to seem timeless, as though one could fall asleep and dream of these kinds of environments.
Ambient space leaves a person with nothing but their own thoughts, forcing them to explore themselves. In my experience, I’ve realized that there are more things for me to discover about my true nature than what I currently know. I also have many questions that I’ve been asking. How much of myself is fabricated? How much of myself do I know to be true? Is it in human nature to create an imitation of the person I want to show the outside world? My ruminations and perceptions on what my reality is have all been brought about through sitting in my apartment with nothing but stillness. This is the inspiration for my series, as I want to explore how calming, dream-like environments can take a person out of the noise of daily life and into self-reflection.
1. Ausar Bennett, Cathedral of Dreams , 2020, (Digital painting), 2732 x 1805 px
2. Ausar Bennett, Valley of the Lost , 2020, (Digital painting), 19″ x 13″
3. Ausar Bennett, Star Crest , 2020, (Digital painting), 20″ x 20″
4. Ausar Bennett, On Galaxy’s Edge , 2019, (Oil on canvas), 18″ x 24″
5. Ausar Bennett, Equinox’s End , 2020, (Digital painting), 20″ x 15″
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