Collaborative installation @ Gaffa Gallery Two


Patricia Alvarez and Kath Fries, collaborative performance installation, Clothe the wold and meet the sky, 2011.

Mirrors, nylon bird netting, nylon hair extensions, human hair, Santeria doll, dvd loop projection and audio.
24 February to 8 March, 2011

Gaffa Gallery Two, 281 Clarence Street Sydney. www.gaffa.com.au


Collaborative exhibition - opening invitation

Performer tangled in hairy situation























Sun Herald Culture Column, Andrew Taylor, Sunday 20 February 2011, page 26. Photograph Simon Alekna.

WARNING: Kath Fries's art may make your stomach churn. Last year's Proliferation featured thousands of feathers erupting from the Gaffa Gallery, invading the space and getting stuck to the clothing and hair of those viewing it. "I'm always interested in how people move through and interact with my installations," she said. "But recently I've wanted to take it a step further than just friendly feedback and the occasional photograph where someone is looking a bit nervous about looking at art." Fries's latest installation, Clothe the wold and meet the sky, has the potential to cause anxiety in her collaborator, Patricia Alvarez. The artwork consists of hair extensions knotted into netting, in the middle of which will sit Alvarez. For two hours at Gaffa Gallery next Thursday she will sing and braid her hair into netting until she becomes too entangled to move. "I like how you can see through the netting so there aren't really any hidden surprises," Fries said. "But at the same time... you feel as though you could be engulfed by it." Fries said Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shallot, with its narrative about a woman weaving, singing and interacting with the world through a mirror, inspired her work. Alvarez, for her part, has used hair extensions in performance art before, exploring how women adorn their bodies, and used her cut-off dreadlocks to create a Santeria doll, which will feature in the work. "The act of weaving hair has been a prominent dance I have found myself enacting over and over again. It has become a natural progression to also find hair growing in my art practice." (Andrew Taylor, Sun Herald, 19 February 2011, page 26)

Collaborative work in progress, 2011

Patricia Alvarez and Kath Fries, Collaborative work in progress - Clothe the wold and meet the sky, 2011,
Mirrors, nylon bird netting, nylon hair extensions, human hair, Patricia Alvarez and her Santeria doll. Dimensions variable.

We were fortunate to be able to use one of the Arcade spaces at Gaffa to do a trail run of our collaborative project. Thanks to Kelly, Zoe and Penny at Gaffa.

Clothe the wold and meet the sky - collaboration

Patricia Alvarez and Kath Fries
Clothe the wold and meet the sky, 2011

Opening night: 6-8pm Thurs 24 Feb 2011 (live performance)
installation & video documentation exhibited until Tues 8 March 2011

Gaffa, Gallery Two, 281 Clarence Street, Sydney, Australia
Gallery hours: Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5

Patricia Alvarez (performance artist) and Kath Fries (installation artist) present their new collaborative work Clothe the wold and meet the sky, 2011, at Gaffa Galleries Sydney. This live experimental, performative installation develops their overlapping interests in tactility, fibres, feminine archetypes and exposing the creative process.

The title, Clothe the wold and meet the sky, is taken from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s 1833 poem The Lady of Shallot. This famous ballad anchors several of Alvarez and Fries’ collaborative motivations; exploring weaving to extend and entangle the body as well as challenging voyeuristic dynamics of watching and being watched, "out flew the web and floated wide / the mirror crack'd from side to side". 

Alvarez is a musician as well as a visual artist and has played with several Sydney bands. In her visual arts practice she has recently presented performance pieces exploring the mark-marking possibilities of artificial hair and eyelash extensions.
Fries is an installation artist who explores materiality, spatiality, narratives and archetypes in her work. Recently Fries won the Japan Foundation New Artist Award. 

John Fries Memorial Prize 2010 Winners Exhibition

Hannah Bertram and Melanie Irwin 
1st and 2nd winner of the John Fries Memorial Prize 2010 
present their new works in the
John Fries Memorial Prize 2010 Winners Exhibition
Trace Elements
22 February - 16 April 2011
Blackfriars off Broadway
Viscopy’s exhibition space
Open 1 to 5pm Wednesday to Friday 
1 Blackfriars Street, Chippendale  NSW, Australia
www.viscopy.org.au


In August 2010, Hannah Bertram won first prize and Melanie Irwin won second prize in the inaugural John Fries Memorial Prize at Viscopy, for their works in the Finalists Exhibition at Blackfriars off Broadway. Click here for more information

Visit the artists' websites 
www.hannahbertram.com   http://melanieirwin.com

There, 2010, installation Gaffa Gallery Sydney



  


There, 2010, Kath Fries, bamboo, nylon netting, mirror panels, feathers, charcoal and wire, dimensions 300x400x200cm. 
Gaffa Gallery Sydney, December 2010.








Installation, Dec 2010, Blackfriars off Broadway





Kath Fries, Blackfriars off Broadway installation, December 2010, mirrors, bamboo, wire, inkjet prints on cotton rag, charcoal dust, mirror panels. Dimensions approx 300 x 400 x 100 cm.


Winning this award is no small Asahi...

"The opportunity to travel to Japan to study contemporary arts is no small Asahi. The Sydney artist Kath Fries has that opportunity after winning the Japan Foundation's New Artist Award for her installation Grove. Inspired by the old Japanese fable The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, it turned the Japan Foundation Gallery into a bamboo forest in September. 'We have full confidence Kath will make the most of this opportunity and engage with many Japanese aritsts and institutions during her stay in Japan', said Tokiko Kiyota, the director of the Japan Foundation in Sydney."

Garry Maddox, 24 Hour Art Diary, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 November 2010, page 16

Facetnate! 2010 - won by Kath Fries

Taking home the Japan Foundation New Artist Award for 2010, Kath Fries of NSW has been announced as the First Prize winner of this year’s facetnate! program, an initiative by the Japan Foundation, Sydney, designed to support emerging visual artists. 

Facetnate's Head Judge, John McDonald, Chief Art Critic of The Sydney Morning Herald, selected the overall winning exhibition from the three finalist entries. 

Fries' successful exhibition Grove, was inspired by the centuries-old Japanese fable, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Following the concept, the Japan Foundation Gallery was transformed into an enchanting bamboo forest throughout September. As First Prize winner and recipient of the 2010 Japan Foundation New Artist Award, Fries receives a return airfare from Sydney to Tokyo where she will carry out further networking and widen her knowledge on Japanese contemporary arts. 

Kath Fries, Grove 2010,  bamboo, wire, charcoal, feathers,
mirrors, dvd projection and audio. Dimensions variable. 
(View more images of Grove)
Tokiko Kiyota, Director of the Japan Foundation, Sydney, states, “We have full confidence Kath will make the most of this opportunity and engage with many Japanese artists and institutions during her stay in Japan. There will no doubt be many other wondrous opportunities she will encounter on her journey. We wish her all the best and look forward to hearing about her adventures upon her return.”

Kath Fries and the Japan Foundation, Sydney, would like to acknowledge and thank John McDonald and the 2010 facetnate! panel of judges, Shihoko Iida, Visiting Curator, Gallery of Modern Art, QLD, and Amelia Groom, freelance Writer, Editor, Curator and Researcher, for selecting our final three. Thankyou to our other two finalists Sabina Maselli (VIC) and Amy Craig (VIC) for their exhibitions and contribution to facetnate! 2010.

facetnate! was launched in 2008 to support emerging visual artist/s whose work demonstrates a strong Japanese influence. The program provides a platform of opportunity for local Australia-based artists to contribute to cultural exchange through various means of artistic expression. This year, facetnate! is an affiliate exhibition of the 17th Biennale of Sydney.
The Japan Foundation aims to promote cultural and intellectual exchange between Japan and other nations through a diverse range of programs and events. The Japan Foundation, Sydney runs a gallery space, library and Japanese language courses for all levels catering from beginner to advance. The Japan Foundation was established in 1972 with a global network of 23 offices in 21 countries. The Australian office was founded in 1977. www.jpf.org.au

Sirens' Song Wollombi, 3 Oct 2010 - 2 Jan 2011





Above images: Kath Fries, Sirens' Song Wollombi, 2010, aluminum wire mesh, feathers and willow tree, dimensions variable. 
Sculpture in the Vineyards 2010, Undercliff Vineyard Wollombi, Hunter Valley NSW. 3 October 2010 - 2 January 2011. 
www.sculptureinthevineyards.com.au

This site-sensitive installation, created with diaphanous wire mesh and feathers suspended from a willow tree, is located next to the creek at Undercliff Vineyard. The coils of mesh are quietly foreboding as they unravel and mysteriously move gently in the wind, almost disappearing into their surroundings. White feathers are scattered and trapped in the woven stands, suggesting alarm and catastrophe. Sirens in ancient Greek mythology were seductive dangerous bird-women whose beautiful singing lured sailors into dangerous waters.

Sculpture in the Vineyards

Above image: Kath Fries, Recoiling 2009, hand-braided recycled fabric and poplar tree, Stonehurst Cedar Creek Vineyard Wollombi, part of Sculpture in the Vineyards 2009.
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