home | exhibition program | archive | services | proposal guidelines | floorplan | contact us
15 June - 2 July, 2011
please join us for opening night drinks Wednesday 15 June 6-8pm
KIRSTY FLETCHER
Beware
The giant lizards are about to rumble…
Crocodiles fight dragons in a battle to the death. The prehistoric hero of the river takes on the mythical beast of the sky in a spell-binding, nail-biting bout of fire and water.
In Kirsty Fletcher’s upcoming solo show these scaly reptiles are both threatening and tamed. In the guise of pull-along toys, swinging pendulums and flying mobiles there is still an air of menace. With the glint of evil, the sudden jump and snap, someone could lose an arm.
Kirsty Fletcher is a Darwin born, Melbourne-based artist and architect. Her art works are predominantly small-scale cardboard sculptures and collage relief works, using reclaimed packaging and ephemera including metcards, beer cartons, cardboard boxes and salvaged objects. These materials are salvaged by Kirsty, her friends and family. They are saved from their recycling bin as well as found on the streets and the final works are a palimpsest of the current consumption patterns of the people around her. Conceived, in part, as prototypes for mass production, the creation process involves making a pattern and then hand-crafting something unique. She frequently produces multiple versions yet each has a look and personality of its own. Despite the inert and flimsy nature of cardboard, the works are often kinetic or involve moving parts. The hand-made mechanisms are informed by pop-up book and wooden toy technology.
Her ‘itty bitty kitty machine’ metcard sculpture was awarded a 2011 Linden Postcard Prize. In both 2009 and 2010 her works have been short-listed in the Togart Contemporary Art Award (NT) and the BSG Art Prize (Vic). She has had recent solo shows in Melbourne at red gallery and Brunswick Street Gallery. Her works have also featured in group exhibitions in Melbourne, Spain and Venice and are included in numerous private collections. This is her second exhibition at red gallery.
To visit Kirsty Fletcher's website click here.
To see the invitation to the exhibition click here.
The Poetic Nature of the Dot
Everything we observe is changing moment by moment… it has no inherent static nature… the illusion of state, a finite, is only a perception, a philosophy of the mechanics.
What is reality? What is still life? Though we may look and perceive an image, we often as the viewer disbelieve, or mistrust the nature of conventional reality, change, movement, one emotive state may change dramatically or at a minimal alter within any given moment.
Stagnant- whether that be my works in a gallery space or in the mind perception of what a painting may mean, or for where an image has come from… is always in movement, in transformation. - Gav Barbey
Over almost two decades Gav Barbey has developed a dynamic career as an artist, which encompasses painting, installation, performance and film. Gav Barbey completed a Diploma of Design National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Sydney, in 1993, and has exhibited regularly since the late 1990s in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Australia and internationally, primarily in the cities of Sydney and New York. His works are held in various collections including the Concord Insurance group Pty Ltd, Australian Metal Holdings, Myer Foundation, Idameneo, Boteck Pty Ltd, BCoz Restaurant Melbourne, Australian Pearl Company (Autore Pearls), Simchowitz Collection LA, and other private and corporate collections in Australia, United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and USA. The works in this show are the result of his continued experimentation with the process of melting pigmented ice onto canvas. This is his first exhibition at red gallery.
To visit Gav Barbey's website click here.
YURIA OKAMURA and JAMES MURNANE
Stillness in Silence, Shapes in Space
Yuria Okamura and James Murnane each combine geometric abstraction with traditional architectural designs in order to create images that have a meditative quality. Yuria uses Japanese Zen garden and architectural designs as her inspiration whilst James uses stained glass window often found in churches as his. Through the slow and engaging process of painting, they aim to capture the subtle beauty that they find in their source material. As both Zen gardens and interiors of churches invite the visitor to experience stillness and peace, the two painters seek to inspire contemplation by creating images that invite prolonged examination of subtle colours and intricate drawings.
Yuria creates her images through the use of diluted acrylic, ink and marks made with embossing on paper. She aims to invite the viewer into her meditative pictorial space by creating a spatial illusion through the use of geometry and architectural references. Inspired by aesthetics and philosophies behind Zen gardens, Yuria seeks to capture a sense of harmony between organic and geometric forms, and to represent the essence and interconnectedness in nature through simple shapes and repetitive patterns.
Having been intrigued by the aesthetic beauties of geometric abstract painting and stained glass windows, James’ work seeks to explore and share these beauties. He hopes to represent simple and subtle beauty through gentle tonal changes and intuitive flow of geometric shapes. Drafting out the forms in an intuitive fashion, then slowly painting them in by hand, once again seeks to speak of beauty. That beauty can break forth at both a speedy, as well as snail-like pace.
James and Yuria both completed their studies at RMIT University. James completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) in 2006, and has exhibited regularly in Melbourne since 2004. He has his first solo exhibition in 2010, titled It Takes Time And It's Worth It held at the Blindside Artist Run Space. His works are in private collections in both Australia and the USA. Yuria graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) in 2009 and completed her Honours in Fine Arts (Painting) in 2010. In 2010 she received the Siemens RMIT Fine Art undergraduate award and in 2011 won the RMIT Honours Travelling Endowment Scholarship. This is the first exhibition at red gallery for both artists.
