Nanette Mulry Orientation Unknown (detail). 2000. Gouache on paper, 20ft x 8ft. 'Orientation Unknown' is a work in 300 parts. Each unit is 6in x 6in and is a flat colour with an aeroplane painted onto it. The piece is made up of four colours: green, grey, pink and orange; and each aeroplane is painted in three tones of each one of these colours. As the piece is made up of small units it can expand and contract to fit different spaces, but retains a geometrical symmetry across its whole surface. In the Slade degree show in 2000, 'Orientation Unknown' was shown dispersed across a flat wall measuring 20ft x 8ft. The universe is made up of rotating objects which haven't any specific way up, if you visualise the universe and turn it upside down it still makes sense. The stars and planets move but are held together by gravitational pulls which keep everything floating in rigid equilibrium. Copernicus changed how people think about their place in the universe by proving that the earth is not at the centre of the universe. Similarly, Gagarin changed which way up we are by being the first man to escape earth's gravity. Gravity gives the illusion of a correct up and down, but now we know that we move in 360 degrees across two planes. Ad Reinhardt wrote 'orientation unknown' on the back of some of his paintings. Formally, Reinhardt's paintings can be hung any way up because of a tight geometrical symmetry across the surface. The idea of unknown orientation underpins our experience of the universe as we now understand it. Our world and experience is made up of a few basic chemicals mixed up in different proportions. In a digitized age, our communication exists as particles free flowing into each other. That is why my paintings are made up of smaller units that contain the possibility of movement and dispersal. Overall, the painting remains tighly symmetrical to enforce the point that they have no fixed right way up. I try to make my paintings very simple and precise; they are about lightness and weightlessness. Calvino wrote that lightness doesn't come from vagueness but from precision. I have tried to empty my paintings of everything unnecessary and reduce them to a flat open space and an object which has been simplified to function as a sign. A sign evokes complex connections despite its apparent simplicity; that is what I want my paintings to do. An aeroplane or space ship capsule on re-entry open up an idea of 360 degree space and the human defeat of gravity, a sense of all-over-ness and any-way-up-ness; the excitement of discovery and movement and also the sense of disorientation that comes from questioning our place and loss of place in the universe.