INDEX (scroll down for more files)
Click on the titles below for access to files
NEW PAGES 2010
New pages of recent images, projects and a new chapter to 'The Book' have been added. See also new images of 'Rivers and Rhynes' on 'The Sea' page.
recent drawings
imagesMany galleries of paintings and drawings
writingEssays, proverbs and other writing on the nature of art, religion and perception.
the bookThis new link contains a growing series of texts dealing with art and the mind from a personal stance.
This website contains information on my organisation Art and Mind, which looks at what light the brain sciences can throw on contemporary culture. In entertaining festivals and events Art and Mind provides talks, performances, exhibitions and discussions. The site has news of current projects, archive listings of past festivals and a large list (with links) to the artists, scientists, philosophers and musicians who have contributed to them.
recent activities
A list of my recent exhibitions, lectures and publications, and of the festivals and other events I have directed, can be found by clicking on this image-
INTRODUCTION TO SITE
Garry Kennard at his exhibition 'The Sea and other icons' at Petworth House, July 2009
My images are created in the tradition of icons - objects of contemplation. These decidedly secular icons, usually of traditional subjects, present a combination of abstraction and illusion, making our brains jump from one mode of perception to another - a double-take which gives the paintings their unique and sometimes disconcerting impact.
In this mode, the images attempt to communicate a particular view of the material world, showing everyday objects, strange in themselves when isolated and seen out of context, surrounded by a further enveloping mystery.
The writing explores how contemporary views of perception and the brain sciences effect our understanding both of art and of ourselves.
This website contains a record of my work - paintings, drawings and writing - created over the past ten years.
All of it has been greatly influenced by research in the brain sciences. I believe that this research is laying the foundations of the most important revolution in our understanding of what we humans are and our place in the material world. Even more than the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions of the past our growing knowledge of how our brains work is providing philosophical and ethical challenges of fundamental importance, the repercussions of which are only just beginning to reveal themselves. Not only in the arts but also in ethics, politics and social organisation, our understanding of our brains will change our self-image, and consequently our behaviour, profoundly.
We are beginning to be able to see how our brains create and sustain a coherent emotional and intellectual structure for use as a tool with which we can make our way in the world. We are beginning to realise the fact that we are not simply looking out of windows in our heads at the material world, but experiencing a universe created (and constantly recreated) by our brains from information arriving from our senses combining with innate structures.
Another part of this exploration has been the creation of the organisation 'Art and Mind'. By means of festivals and symposia, I have brought together scientists, thinkers and artists to share a common stage from which to inform (and discuss with) the general public these crucial ideas in our understanding of the human condition.
Please look at the website at www.artandmind.org. You may be inspired to join in the greatest adventure available to us in our age - the exploration of inner space, the search for ourselves, Or, more plainly, to try to find out what makes us tick.