Over
the past year I have been in the process of completing my first public art work
in a team of 4 artists for a project by CODA Studio www.coda-studio.com for the Housing
Foundation through the Western Australian Percent for Art Scheme. The other
three Western Australian artists involved are Jennie Nayton, Olga Cironis and
Penny Bovell. Each artist was invited to choose a site in which to execute
their work. The multi-purpose building will be composed of commercial business
on the street level with housing on the upper levels.
My
contribution has now, after many months (in fact over two years!) of planning finally
installed and below are a few preview shots of the installation. The work is made from perforated aluminum by
the team at C-Tech Engineering www.ctechengineering.com.au in O’Connor WA.
Thanks
to David Johnson of CODA Studio for the images of the work installed. I’ll post
some professional documentation of the work once the building has been complete
in early 2012.
The October issue of Australian House & Garden featured an article which was a survey of the Top 50 Rooms of the best of interior design in private homes in 2011. Page 113 featured a room by interior designer Miriam Fanning of Mim Designs for a private residence in which a work of mine features. The sculpture is located in the entry of the east Melbourne residence - below is a scan of the article. If you would like a PFD of the article please email me at info@elizabethdelfs.com
The last couple of weeks I worked on a design installation at a new Japanese restaurant in Mitte due to open in December. The installation consists of 15, 000 suspended chopsticks hanging from the ceiling creating a kinetic topography. The work is constructed by threading fishing line through a series of canvases (100cm x 100cm) on which a grid is created and the surface is pierced. Fishing line is secured on the back of the canvas with a bead. The canvas is then suspended with the surface parallel to the floor and the chopsticks are measured and tied, all by hand, creating a wave pattern that will be formed once all of the canvases have been suspended.
Below are some shots of the work in progress – I will post photos of the entire install once it has been completed. The work is by two American designers who are based in Berlin, I'll post more about them at a later date also!
Recently I completed a
styling project for Berlin based singer/song writer Sam Waring - aka Wasp
Summer. Originally from Melbourne via Brisbane, Sam is working on a new album -
her first solo record and the images are to be used for the album art work. We worked
together developing a concept and I made a several props which included a staff
and a head piece. We spent the day in a park just north of the Tiergarten on
the shoot with German photographer Jan Bechberger www.jan-bechberger-fotografie.de
Below are some of the final
images from the shoot, followed by a few photos of the production.
I have a sculpture in an exhibition called Prefix organised by the Textiles Exchange Project (http://www.textileexchangeproject.org) in Perth, Western Australia. The exhibition brings together 40 artists from Perth and Hyogo in Japan whose practice engages with fibre textile materials and processes. The exhibition traveled to Japan in August this and was presented at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art Japan (http://www.artm.pref.hyogo.jp/eng/home.html) and is now currently on display at the Western Australian Museum - Perth until February 2012.
Last week I spent sometime
in Venice checking out the Biennale, this year titled ILLUMInations. The Biennale is held at
two main venues – the Arsenal and the Giardini, with a series of off site
exhibitions at various locations throughout the islands. I saw just
under half the Biennale – you would have to be a real die-hard to go to
everything, and need a minimum of 5 days of art consuming from 10am to
6pm to see it all. As well as an unlimited budget – Venice is the most expensive city in
Italy. But I recommend going at least once in your life, and I’d like to think
that I would go back again for the next one, more prepared for what to expect
and the time it takes, and with a better pair of walking shoes.
Art aside the city itself is
amazing – as people say, it is like stepping into a dream, one in which it is
very easy to get lost - literally. With over 400 canals, 150 bridges, and 117
islands (thanks Lonely Planet) and often unmarked streets, it’s impossible not
to get disorientated…..so finding the off site exhibitions was fun (read time
consuming), but a good way to become immersed in the streets of Venice. The population
of Venice is only 269, 000 but it gets 20 million tourists a year! So whilst
the city retains its gothic authenticity and other worldly labyrinth of canals,
by day, the streets are a full of tourists (including me), and it can get a
little frustrating getting around. However at night the streets are almost
completely deserted, with small pockets of activity tucked away and roaming
around the eerily quiet streets was by far what I enjoyed the most, to really
see the beauty of the architecture and a built environment like I have never
experienced without having to look through crowds of people.
So below are a bunch of photos from the Biennale. Like most art experiences of this size there was some arresting work and some not so interesting, but overall it's an impressive and exciting international art experience. Highlights for me of the offsite exhibitions were Days of Yi by Yi Zhou and Scottish artist Karla Black's exhibition curated by The Fruitmarket Gallery; Arsenal and Giardini highlights include Cindy Sherman, Pipilotti Rist, Urs Fischer, Norma Jean, Haroon Mirza, Nicholas Hlobo and Nathaniel Mellors... to name just a few.
The view from our room!
When I think of Venice, the first thing I think of is - MARATHON!
In the Spanish Pavillion, there were signs saying "Do not step onto the art work!"... but feel free to set up a desk with a laptop workstation...... on the art work.
Above: Entrance to the Giardini
Above: Cindy Sherman
Above: Norma Jean - plastacine violence! This installation made me feel so uncomfortable
