Luke Conroy
Luke Conroy is an Australian artist, sociologist, and teacher based in the Netherlands. He approaches his works as collages, slicing, rearranging, painting, and reinterpreting visual elements from everyday life in mesmerizing and surprising ways. In the surreal worlds, he creates, play, humor, color, and movement are always key ingredients. His artistic practice is based on social observation and research that takes shape in photography, digital art, video, writing, and various installations. In his eclectic projects, he creates satisfying and emotional visuals that encourage consideration of human values, relationships, and beliefs in various contexts. Luke’s works are inspired in particular by his own subjective interpretations and interactions with the local community. In 2013, under the supervision of renowned sociologist Adrian Franklin, he received a first-class honors degree for his thesis at the University of Tasmania’s School of Social Sciences. In 2015, he graduated from Charles Darwin University with a Diploma in Teaching and Learning specializing in Art and Media. From 2015 to 2018 he worked full time as a photography, graphic design, art, and media teacher at a college in Tasmania, Australia. In 2020, Luke graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Sociology and minoring in Journalism and Fine Art.
A CHEESE DREAM
In this work the artist explored the ‘cheese tasting experience’ from both an individual and historical perspective. Inspired by these two perspectives, the artist has created a dreamlike and immersive world that is alive with movement and color. Each of the two scenes is made up of hundreds of individual layers, created by the artists and sourced through broad research around French cheese culture. From the individual perspective, the artist was particularly interested in cheese tasting as an immediate experience involving multiple senses and pleasurable sensations throughout the body. Each of the two scenes the audience travels through, can be seen as a representation of the mouth, stomach or mind – key areas where the magic of the cheese tasting experience occurs for an individual. This intention was based upon the artist’s research around the ‘science of taste’ – where taste is a sensation that happens not only when cheese is in the mouth, but also as one is looking at it, touching it or imagining it. Referencing this multi-sensual experience, there are many noses, brains, eyes, mouths, tongues and hands throughout the work. In the work, the artist was focused on developing the idea of the cheese tasting experience as the meeting of artistry, experimentation and culture that spans centuries in France. In framing French cheese culture as an artform, throughout each scene the audience can find various references to famous French artists and historical figures, sitting alongside the famous French cheese forms. Ultimately, traveling through the surreal scenes, the viewer is invited to embrace their own imagination while exploring the density of details and references. The artist encourages multiple viewings of the work, in order to discover new elements and ideas on each occasion.
THE CREATION PROCESS
In this work the artist explored the ‘cheese tasting experience’ from both an individual and historical perspective. Inspired by these two perspectives, the artist has created a dreamlike and immersive world that is alive with movement and color. Each of the two scenes is made up of hundreds of individual layers, created by the artists and sourced through broad research around French cheese culture. From the individual perspective, the artist was particularly interested in cheese tasting as an immediate experience involving multiple senses and pleasurable sensations throughout the body. Each of the two scenes the audience travels through, can be seen as a representation of the mouth, stomach or mind – key areas where the magic of the cheese tasting experience occurs for an individual. This intention was based upon the artist’s research around the ‘science of taste’ – where taste is a sensation that happens not only when cheese is in the mouth, but also as one is looking at it, touching it or imagining it. Referencing this multi-sensual experience, there are many noses, brains, eyes, mouths, tongues and hands throughout the work. From a historical perspective, the artist was interested in the ‘cheese tasting experience’ as the meeting of artistry, experimentation and culture across many time periods. In the work, the artist was focused on developing the idea of the cheese tasting experience as the meeting of artistry, experimentation and culture that spans centuries in France. In framing French cheese culture as an artform, throughout each scene the audience can find various references to famous French artists and historical figures, sitting alongside the famous French cheese forms. Ultimately, traveling through the surreal scenes, the viewer is invited to embrace their own imagination while exploring the density of details and references. The artist encourages multiple viewings of the work, in order to discover new elements and ideas on each occasion.
When creating the various scenes for this work, all the elements are arranged on a 2:1 digital canvas. This canvas is later stretched around to create a 360-degree work.
The work involves various animated still life paintings. The footage for these animated works was filmed in front of a green screen and involved a figure interacting with cheese and other food objects in a mysterious and playful manner.
This image shows the transformation of the green screen footage to the animated still life works. Each still life animation involves thousands of individual frames, inspired by the impressionist painting style made famous by French artists such as Claude Monet.
Throughout each of the scenes are various surreal ‘actions’ involving cheese. Inspired by the multiple senses used in the cheese tasting experience, the artist wanted to capture the mysterious and playful aspects of this.
In each scene are various smaller animations which the artist has created individually, before placing in the larger piece. Each of these smaller animations reference the cheese tasting experience and involve elements relating to French cheese and French culture more broadly.
When creating the various scenes for this work, all the elements are arranged on a 2:1 digital canvas. This canvas is later stretched around to create a 360-degree work.
Various image views of the 2:1 canvas, converted to make an immersive 360-degree environment.
Each of the scenes involve hundreds of individual layers, arranged together and animated. The above image shows a variety of these individual layers which can be found in the final work.