ANCA Events 03 Mar 2010 - 14 Mar 2010 Equator Acrylic and Oil paintings on canvas by Pete Smith Artist Statement: The Equator series develops my thinking of nothingness which was the basis of my exhibition at the Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne in February 2009. I first discovered nothingness while I was painting my Lake George series. The challenge in creating the Lake George work was how to create a sense of stillness, something like a meditation, which you drop and expand into. Nothingness is a bit like sleep. You enter what you think is a great void of black, but one that is enriched by those restless hours full of imaginings that come from deep within your subconscious. The latitude of the equator is 0 degrees, dividing the earth into a Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. So the Equator series asks the question - what do you see when you stand at zero? With the Equator series I continue to explore the creative potential of the spirit and connect to it through a process of mindfulness in the mark making itself. As Earle Coleman said "...aesthetic ideas can serve as bridges to spiritual categories..." relating Aesthetic bliss to "...peace that passes all understanding".