Stretch your imagination by connecting with four emerging local artists at Blacktown Arts Centre
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Four Western Sydney artists, Cathie Cox, Andrew Gadow, Mark Hooper and Isabella MacKay, are currently showcased in the exhibition Connection until Saturday, June 2 at Blacktown Arts Centre (78 Flushcombe Road, Blacktown). These artists have strong links to Blacktown City, and reflect the broad range of art practices in Western Sydney today.
The artists are imbued with the spirit driving creativity today - they critique the mediums they utilise, they question accepted ideas of everyday reality and they project a forthright affinity with the environment. These artists bring a sense of joy, curiosity and experimentation to the execution and display of their work.
"Two elements in art that intrigue me are the idyllic and the odd", says local Blacktown City artist, Mark Hooper. Hooper uses these elements to good effect in his series of playful and evocative assemblages that form part of the exhibition.
As a fervent collector and treasurer of family heirlooms, Hooper seeks out the choice refuse of strangers, scouring discarded piles of domestic objects left on the roadside for Council clean-ups. In Mark Hooper's assemblages, broken musical instruments, treasured family photographs, used postage stamps and children's toys all find a place together. Like a drawer full of unrelated keepsakes, Hooper's artworks of mismatched objects pay homage to a time, person or story long forgotten.
"We inadvertently collect things over our lifetimes and all eventually make you think about them and can take you back to another place in time", says Hooper.
All four artists in Connection encourage the viewer to explore contemporary issues, yet also remind us of the past. Andrew Gadow's installation utilises obsolete technology to create audio-visual feedback loops. Isabella MacKay's large mixed media works on watercolour paper reflect environmental issues and question our relationship to the Earth. Cathie Cox's ephemeral wall installation of pinned and layered poetic text made from tissue paper examines human consciousness.
Join the artists of Connection for an 'Artist talk' at 11am Saturday, May 19. This is a great opportunity to meet the artists and hear about their artworks in the exhibition.
Connection