John Young Zerunge AM – “Spectrumfigure XI”, 2018, oil on Belgian linen, 190 x 150cm. Purchased in 2023 with funds raised through Murdoch University Art Collection’s GOLD HORIZON 50th Anniversary Artwork Campaign.

Spectrumfigure XI, like other works that form the Abstract Paintings series, is a celebration of hybridity between the human and AI.

Every day for the past two decades, John Young Zerunge AM and his team download 1000 photographic images and use photoshop to turn these images into abstract form overnight. The next morning, he selects one of the abstract images from the collection. He will then painstakingly paint the digitally transformed image onto canvas using traditional oil painting techniques to retain the haptic, corporeal qualities in the painting, and some residue emotive resonance from the original image.

The marks that John and his team leave on the paintings are the marks of the human and humane; they are not the grand gestures of the brushstrokes or signatures of the artist-heroes in calligraphic form. When I see Spectrumfigure XIV in the flesh, I can feel the micro-tremors, the unconscious minute marks, the little meanings that our bodies speak through the spectre and promise of AI.

Spectrumfigure XI is also a celebration of cultural hybridity. The artwork is inspired by thousands of images of rainbows. I love the luminous aura-like qualities of this painting and am reminded of the first time I heard about a circular rainbow, also known as Buddha’s Ray. It was from another of John’s work, a chalk drawing entitled Buddha’s Ray, Buddha’s Heart (2010) from the Safety Zone installation which explored the acts humanitarian action. I had never heard of such a thing before and found both the scientific and symbolic meanings attached to the phenomenon, fascinating. I saw the glorious orb for the first and only time on a plane back after my father’s funeral a few years ago. Suspended between Malaysia and Australia with both holding family, history and heart, it was a moment of acute poignancy and blessedness.

John and I have been friends and fellow travellers for many years. We grew up at a time where there was little opportunity to explore what it meant to live across two or more competing worlds of Asianess and Australianess. As Asians in Australia, we were made to feel neither fully Asian nor Australian enough. We became politicised in response to heightened racism in the 90s with the rise of far-right politics which weaponised migration and land rights to divide a country that was starting to embrace multiculturalism and our place in Asia. Being Asian Australian was not about petty identity politics but rather a platform for solidarity and evidence-based critique of systemic injustice. Along the way, we found ways through the arts, academia and community to create new ways of conceptualising and being both Asian and Australian.

While I might never see another Buddha’s rainbow again, I am glad that our Murdoch community is blessed by the light of Spectrumfigure XI.

About Professor Jacqueline Lo

Professor Jacqueline Lo is Director of the new Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University. She has written extensively about John Young’s work and collaborated with him on various projects. Jacqueline was born in Kuala Lumpur, grew up in the Perth suburb of Willetton and completed her undergraduate and PhD studies at the University of Western Australia. She is also a proud alumna having completed the cultural studies component of her Arts Degree at Murdoch University. Jacqueline was based at the Australian National University for many years. She is delighted to balik kampung (return to the village) to help rebuild the University’s Indo-Pacific research and engagement capability.