'What I saw when I went away'

Installation view of rings with painting at my exhibition

What I saw when I went away

'My Assemblages' by Katherine Bowman

This week I have a new exhibition opening at

Milly Sleeping

in Carlton.

I have been working on these pieces for the last couple of months. Each piece was made in relation to each other, all informed by the one idea, explored across different materials and processes.

My Assemblages

An installation of pipecleaner pieces, jewellery and watercolours.

Milly Sleeping :  

http://millysleeping.com

157 Elgin Street, Carlton, VIC

Dates: 22 April – 24 May 2015

Launch: Sunday 26

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April 3-5pm

Locutions ( the loved object)

Locutions (the loved object) is now open at Craft Victoria

This exhibition is composed of two bodies of work; the first being 14 works on paper
- 4 large collages and 10 small watercolours.
The second body of work comprises of 8 metal objects.

Collages – 760mm width x 560mm length
watercolour, ink, paper

Collages – 760mm width x 560mm length
ink, paper,sterling silver lemel

Collages – 760mm width x 560mm length
ink, paper, aluminum foil, sterling silver lemel

Collages – 760mm width x 560mm length
ink, paper, aluminum foil

watercolour and pencil - 240mm x 320mm

detail

detail

watercolour and pencil - 240mm x 320mm

 detail

detail







more images to follow

The exhibition runs until 15 October 2011, I hope that you will be able to make it.

details

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details of a watercolour which has changed a lot since this stage

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website update

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Melo Design has updated my website adding the Locutions watercolours

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Locutions and the loved object

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locution n. 1. a particular form of expression; a phrase or expression. 2. a style of speech or verbal expression; phraseology.

 (from Latin locutio an utterance, from locui to speak)

Locutions is a body of work that I have been working on for more than two years now. 
The body of work that I was working on, was composed of both paintings and objects/small sculptures. Both explore the same subject but through different media.

This work was informed by many things, but the most defining was that of the notion of duende.

With this subject I was influenced by the writings of Federico Garcia Lorca, most notably his essay Play and Theory of the Duende, first delivered as a lecture in 1933, as well as Deep Song, a lecture given in 1922. 

Nick Cave follows these thoughts also in his lecture given in 1999 on writing the The Love Song. He writes:

The Love Song exists to fill with language, the silence between ourselves and God, to decrease the distance between the temporal and the divine. He goes on to say that …Through these songs I have been able to mythologise the ordinary events of my life, lifting them from the temporal plane and hurling them way into the stars.

From here I went to the writings of Jean Baudrillard and The System of Collecting, as a way of understanding the significance of objects, and how investment creates meaning:

Among the various meanings of the French word objet, the Littre dictionary gives this: 'Anything which is the cause or subject of a passion. Figuratively and most typically; the loved object.'

...the objects in our lives, as distinct  from the way we make use of them at a given moment, represent something much more, something profoundly related to subjectivity: for while the object is a resistant material body, it is also, simultaneously, a mental realm over which I hold sway, a thing whose meaning is governed by myself alone. It is all my own, the object of my passion.

This lead me to researching boxes.

box n. 1. a case or receptacle…with a lid…a small shelter

In The Collector’s Book of Boxes Marian Klamkin writes:

From the time when man first began to accumulate personal possessions he has required something in which to store them. From the need for a safe and easily transported container evolved the ubiquitous box.

…A study of boxes is a study of the changing values of civilised man, for by learning about the various uses of old boxes we acquire knowledge about those things that man felt were his most precious belongings.

…The box has been used to protect, contain, or simply to decorate, for centuries.

So my Locutions exhibition has now separated into 2 bodies of work. 

And the new work which is object based, is now called

Locutions (the loved object)

This work will be exhibited in September at Craft Victoria.

Locutions, comprising 9 watercolours and 5 large canvases will find a home somewhere else.

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Locutions (works on paper), details

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Untitled 1. (detail)

Untitled 2. (detail)

Untitled 3. (details)

Untitled 4. (details)

Untitled 5. (details)

Untitled 6. (details)

 Untitled 6. (details)

 Untitled 8. (details)

 Untitled 9. (details)







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Locutions (works on paper)

Untitled (1) 2010
ink, watercolour, on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (2) 2010
ink, watercolour on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (3) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (4) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (5) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (6) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (7) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (8) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
320 x 240mm

Untitled (9) 2010
ink, watercolour and collage on paper
370 x 270mm



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locutions

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I am working on pieces for my next exhibition which is in September this year

some of these works have sat still for a long time and now are taking form again

the title for this body of work is locutions

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some details

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some details of work from Black exhibition last year, ink, acrylic paint and watercolour on paper





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works, part 3

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Ring

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

Brooch

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

Earrings

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

the artist statement I wrote for the exhibition:

In exploring the colour black I came to realise that I draw the same way that I make jewellery.

I always begin with researching my subject, then I do preliminary drawings, then I go straight to the material, or in this case the paper.

I find black an intriguing colour. It is bold and strong yet at the same time mysterious and deep. Details hide on the surface. These same details require slower scrutiny. Time becomes part of the process of exploring the work.

I wanted these works to be abstract but at the same time intensely detailed, the painting applied across the surface almost the same way metal is etched or engraved, a slow laborious process.

These 12 works are painted using watercolour, then acrylic paint. I did this to create more depth within the work. In one painting I have used Indian ink. All works are hand painted.

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works, part 2

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Earring

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

Earring

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

(this work is on a pale blue paper)

Pendant

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

Earrings

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

(this work is on a pale taupe coloured paper)

dimensions of paper : length 380mm x width 280mm

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works, part 1

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I have made 12 works for the Black exhibition with Vikki Kassioras.
They are all works on paper, painted predominantly with watercolour and acrylic paint.
Below are 4 of 12

Pendant

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

(this work is painted on a pale taupe coloured paper)

Brooch

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper, beads, cotton thread

Locket

ink, watercolour paint on paper

Brooch

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

(this work is painted on a very pale blue paper)

Earrings

watercolour, acrylic paint on paper

dimensions of paper : length 380mm x width 280mm

Black exhibition

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the updated window

The installation was constructed from sheets of cardboard ( and a lot of tape).
Vikki has also posted images of the exhibition on her blog.

all the jewellery is by Vikki Kassioras.

more images to follow

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Black exhibition

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Black exhibition opened last night. Thanks to all those that turned up it was a great night.

I will post images of the installation when I can take some.
Below are details of some of my paintings

The exhibition is on for a short period of time. Vikki is sitting the exhibition today, a good opportunity to try on her beautiful work.

Below are the opening times:

Friday 3 September 1pm - 6pm

Saturday 4 September 1pm – 6pm

Thursday 9 September 1pm – 6pm

Friday 10th Saturday 1pm – 6pm

Saturday 11th September 1pm – 6pm

(also open by appointment)

The Nicholas Building

37 Swanston Street

Floor 7, Room 10

Melbourne 3000

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Black

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for Lily

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butterflies for Lily who has just turned 4

watercolour on paper (and glitter and foil, I couldn't help myself)

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sample

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In 2003 I was in an exhibition called Sample, put on by e.g.etal.
This is the proposal I put forward for the exhibition.
Looking back now I am a little shocked by it, in that I would probably not do something like this now. But I think that making this 'sample' was very important as it helped clarify the direction that I was going in for my work.
I made a 'sample' of the work that I was making, which was my Masters folio.
The drawings were of pieces that I was making at the time and the text was my actual Masters proposal.
The edges of the pages are lined with calico that has samples of embroidery stitches.

this is the text that I wrote that accompanied this piece:

I have made a sample of my own work.

A 'sample' being a small part of anything becomes for me in this instance, a fragment of a thought process of which I have been exploring for many years.

What I intend to create is found in the images and words contained in the 'sample'.

In the exhibition, e.g.etal printed the first lines of my Masters proposal and put it beside my work:

As a child I used to collect houses. They were very small and could fit in the palm of my hand.

I also had small boxes filled with collections of precious objects, such as shells, buttons, lace, and jewellery.

Treasures of a child.

Locations of  memory.

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wild things and deep songs

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On at the Melbourne Museum is an exhibition called Wild. There are a number of trams with posters advertising the exhibition going around Melbourne, which is where I first 'heard' about it. David Neale also wrote about it on his blog. I went last week and I loved it. It is sort of crazy and inspiring at the same time. An exhibition where most of the stuffed animals are brought out and displayed all together. I am sure that the live versions of these animals would not sit so harmoniously together. It reminded me a little of the amazing display at the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution in Paris.

I have been painting animals lately, and the way that the displays here have been brought together reminded me of how I have been looking at animals and what happens when you place unexpected animals together. In previous work I have used animals and birds as a way of exploring notions of 'place'. With my new body of work I have continued this exploration but have also been influenced by the writings of Federico Garcia Lorca, most notably his lectures on the Play and Theory of Duende and Deep Song.  Animals now become a signifier of other forces and energies. Lorca quotes Manuel Torre, in his lecture on Duende, that "All that has dark sounds has duende". He goes on to write :

These "black sounds" are the mystery, the roots fastened in the mire that we all know and all ignore, the fertile silt that gives us the very substance of art. "Black sounds", said that man of the Spanish people, concurring with Goethe, who defined the duende while speaking of Paganini: "A mysterious power which everyone senses and no philosopher explains."

In Deep Song, Lorca states that :

Deep song is akin to the trilling of birds, the crowing of the rooster, and the natural music of forest and fountain.







 

 ink and watercolour on paper
320mm x 240mm

ink and watercolour on paper
320mm x 240mm 

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