Monday, January 18, 2010

Sydney College of the Arts Postgraduate Degree Show 2009

My installation titled Gokko Rando (Make Believe Land) Part I, exhibited in the SCA Postgraduate Degree Show 2009. I technically finish my MVA in March (due to an extension) but luckily got to test run the install and set up at the end of year show. It was a great experience and I received a lot of feedback. Thanks to everyone that came to see it, and many thanks to Mark Scott Johnson for taking the time to help me with the lights and photography.





Gokko Neko (Make Believe Cat), Ceramic, 2009.








RED: The Lure of the Huldra: A Norwegian Nightmare, Ceramic, Mixed Media, LED lights, 2009.

Once upon a time there lived an alluringly amorous young wood nymph. She lived on a small island off the coast of Japan and drank red wine with adzuki beans every day. She also had an appetite for inquisitive young men. So much so that the adventurous sailors that dared to visit her island to view her beauty were often eaten up after their encounter with the Huldra and their body parts lay strewn across the island as evidence of her passionate hunger.

One day a Spacecat from an other universe landed on her island and found himself strangely attracted to the Huldra. The Huldra knew that she could not mate with this hybrid creature from outer space. Her salacious nature got the better of her and their relationship was consummated resulting in the birth of the Spacecat Spirit.



This tablaeu titled BLUE: Forbidden Love - Banished to the Blu Land, references the Norwegian myth of the Blu Man. In my scene the mutant cats that have evolved from the space cat and Huldra's encounter, have been banished to the harsh cold Blu Land of frost and ice. Frozen to the core, they no longer pose a threat to the wood land creatures.






Entrance view to Gokko Rando (Make Believe Land) Part I






Mr Poop with Exploding Flower, Ceramic, 2009.

















RED: The Lure of the Huldra - A Norwegian Nightmare



GREEN: The Woods Have Eyes


The Tree Spirits witness this travesty and banish the Spacecat Spirits to an icy cold island situated at the top of the world.



BLUE: Forbidden Love - Banished to the Blu Land


This is a little vid of the installation. The project titled Gokko Rando (Make Believe Land) Part I is a living sculpture that morphs and grows throughout the exhibition period. Porous ceramic elements are installed in wet diorama habitats. The ceramic pieces slowly absorb the coloured dye that they sit in, slowly moving up the body of the piece. The dye not only colours the pieces but also reacts with the ceramic material to form coloured crystals that sit on the surface.