Proliferation is a new installation by Kath Fries at Gaffa Sydney, that fills the gallery space with hundreds of feathers. The gallery space will appear to be bursting at the seams as hidden stuffing spews forth and strands of feathers trail down the walls and explode out of the cracks between floorboards. The artist will tend the installation daily and viewers will be able to see the installation change and grow over this period.
Feathers have featured as a consistent motif in Fries’ work over the past three years. In Proliferation the artist has used recycled feathers — reclaimed stuffing from an old sofa, an inconsequential material usually dismissed as debris — to comment on humanity's destructive urges and continued environmental abuse. The use of feathers within this context provokes emotionally volatile responses from attraction to repulsion.
In this installation Fries creates a space that conjures dreamlike connections and evokes cautionary myths and fables. Proliferation’s fleeting and temporal qualities resonate a sense of tension, balancing between the immediate present and the possibilities of the unknown.
An artist’s book titled Feather will also accompany the installation. This publication features a selection of photographs taken by the artist that present an illuminating insight into her ongoing explorations of this material. Fries’ photography is both informed and complementary to her installation practice and offers a unique perspective of her art practice.
Kath Fries completed a Masters of Visual Art at Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney in 2008. She has been exhibiting at Gaffa Gallery since 2006 and has created site-sensitive temporal installations for numerous national art festivals including Rockingham WA, Hunter Valley NSW, Drummoyne NSW, Lake George NSW and Bryon Bay NSW. She recently completed an artist-residency at Laughing Waters VIC and was awarded a ‘Facetnate’ scholarship from the Japan Foundation’s Emerging Artist Program.
For more information please contact Kath Fries kathfries@gmail.com
Above image: Kath Fries, Feather (detail), 2010, artist book
Gaffa
Gallery Three, Level One
281 Clarence St, Sydney CBD, NSW 2000
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm.
Ph 02 9283 4273 www.gaffa.com.au
Kath Fries' new artist book, Feather, will be launched at the opening of Proliferation, Thurs 1 July, 6-8pm, Gaffa Galleries 281 Clarence St Sydney.
Preview the book now -
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