Ludbrook has turned visionary art into a career: he is the psychedelic brain behind Vision Quest, a celebration of transcendental music and culture that aims to expand the very limits of what audiences might expect from visual art, and a local Melbourne legend in his own right.
“Visionary art is art that transcends the physical world to encompass a wider vision of awareness,” Ludbrook says. “It speaks to me in a language that is quite different than spoken or written word. You can look at, into and through these works and gather quite a lot of meaning from the intricate designs, geometric patterns, hyper-realistic colours and flowing lines. I created Vision Quest to pay homage to the art and artists who create it, and provide them the opportunity to reach a wider audience.”
Not that Vision Quest is an auteur-led operation mind you; although Ludbrook knows the transcendental art scene like the back of his hand, he has had help in organising and curating the event. In that way, rather than one man’s vision, the event will instead be a cacophony of cultural voices; a celebration of the diversity of the scene that Ludbrook loves so dearly, and a chance for the uninitiated to have their minds expanded.
“Marley McNaughten is Vision Quest’s artistic director, and is highly regarded within the Visual Arts community and has many contacts there. Marley has also created the logo designs, not to mention the magnificent flyer for the daytime gallery. Aside from those artists selected, many more have come forward wishing to be part of the project as well. Marley has been casting a critical eye over the content to be displayed and he tells me that the standard of the late inclusions is fantastic.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the freeform, uncompromised nature of much transcendental art, the works included in Vision Quest stick to no discernible formula. They are magic, mutated, multidisciplinary wonders, each more shocking and provocative than the last, and McNaughten and Ludbrook have worked hard to ensure that no one piece looks anything like another. Punters heading along to the event should be ready to be challenged: this won’t be your average quiet morning trip to an art gallery by any means.
“Visionary Art will be on display in the form of CGI and hand drawn paintings, drawings, string art, sculptures and graffiti on all manner of surfaces. The venue will also feature ultraviolet lighting for the massive banners painted with U.V. reflective paint.
“Excitingly, some artists will be performing live paintings and drawings throughout the day and the stage will be host to a wide array of music and entertainment. The event space is perfect to host such a celebration, and a lot of effort is going into the production to ensure that the artworks are shown in the best possible light.”
For some, Vision Quest’s blurring of the boundaries between performance, visual art and music might first be a little bit shocking – after all, there is something genuinely quite troubling about those cultural artefacts that we cannot easily pigeonhole. But as Ludbrook explains it, any art that fires on all senses is worthy of one’s time, whether it can be easily disseminated into a quick little summary or not. That, after all, is what transcendental art is all about: provoking us out of the normal and into something new, and transformative.
“Perception is in the eye of the beholder,” he says. “I can understand how some people can only relate to one dimension at a time: I started out the same way. But today with the help of technology, visual art is being used in most large scale productions to enhance the patron’s experience.
“Visionary art takes this one step further by adding consciously created geometrical and fractal layers to assist one’s understanding of a multidimensional universe. All the senses play a role to enhance the ultimate artform of life. It all overlaps, sight and sound particularly.”
