Bronze, sterling silver, Amethyst crystal.
"Plasmodial" 2013A series of heavy, bronze, cast rings based on elements from nature - spore moulds and minerals/crystals.
On display at The Webb Gallery, QLD College of Arts 25th November - 3rd December 2014:
On display at "Casting Call" Exhibition held at POP@afg Gallery, South Brisbane, 10th January - 24th January, 2013:
Alternate views:
Work in Progress photos: Coming Soon
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“Plasmodial”
For this casting project, I focused on the organic and how they visua lly and thematically contrast with inorganic elements whilst maintain a ‘balance’, such as in nature. Based around the ‘natural sciences’; a recurring theme in most of my current works, I have combined the inorganic and geometric shapes of crystals and rock formations with the organic and curved forms of various fungi and slime moulds. As I researched into different types of fungi and moulds, I came to appreciate the incredible amount of variety and beauty these organisms have. The problem is, most moulds and some of the more delicate fungi fruiting bodies are quite tiny and their intricacy is lost when not viewed under a microscope or very, very up close. Shapes like mountains of soap bubbles in pale cream, bubblegum pink, gold, bright orange and even purple, little beads of colour on the end of tiny filigree stalks, microscopic cages with teeth, little clusters that look like bunches of grapes, these are just some of the shapes that these organisms can take and in my work I tried to convey that delicate beauty. Crystals, minerals, rock formations and fractal geometry have always been a passion of mine and with the abundant variety of shapes, textures, and colours that can exist and be created from these elements, there is always some creative inspiration to be taken from them. I chose the organic and the inorganic elements for my designs because of their contrasting natures, both visually and fundamentally, yet they both exist in relatively similar locations, usually one in, on or under the other. The significance of the two structures was also important; the devouring of the inorganic by the organic, round structures versus crystalline structures, life growing on stone, stone as a foundation for life. Visually, I wanted the contrasting difference in the structures to be clear and I emphasised this with the roundness of the organic elements offsetting the sharpness of the stone, the polishing of each piece whereby the organic is smooth and polished to high shine while the majority of the stone elements are rough and a little bit more matte or satiny. The trick was to get the two elements to blend well together into a whole; I wanted the contrast between the round and sharp angles, but I also didn't want one shape to overwhelm the other. Having said that, I also had to be careful not to end up making them all look too similar, I wanted a variety of combined shapes and dimensions using the same elements in a sort of balance, just like in nature. |