cytoarchitecture_opening

although this blog is generally devoted to the process of my art making, i think it's probably nice to also see the final outcome of things. so, in that spirit, here are some images of the exhibition opening at Techno Park Studios - which includes art from the following artists: 
                              
                                 Matthew Deleget
                                 Melanie Irwin
                                 Liang Xia Luscombe
                                 Taree Mackenzie
                                 Riki-Metisse Marlow
                                 Kent Wilson

Riki-Metisse's wonderful sound machines

Mel's subtle wall painting

Taree and Liang's piece

Matthew's wall-mounted plastic bags

my work, synapse

Riki-Metisse put on a performance, manipulating and coordinating her many sound machines:

 

against a backdrop of warnings about severe weather there was a great turn out of visitors. it was great to see some young kids enjoying Riki-Metisse's show, at times tapping their feet and clapping their hands to the irregular beats and the grinding, industrial sounds of the machines.

cytoarchitecture_darwinian branches

so, it turns out that cutting circles of glass, with no experience whatsoever, and sanding them into perfectly accurate shapes, then plunging them into articulated depressions in soft, green wood... well... that's a rather difficult prospect. 
after some dangerous glass splinterings, several cracked attempts and much expletives, i decided to abort that idea and place my hope in the darwinian principle of evolution - that from the occasional creative error, or aberration, advancement may occur. and with that philosophical mindset, i sat back, looked around my studio, reconsidered the ideas in the work and waited for a new creative solution.
and there it was, in a milk crate. a pile of about 20 large computer circuit boards that i had collected over a year ago from the side of the road.
the symmetry was like some sort of resonance - logs cut up from trees (themselves smaller parts of a broader 'environmental' network), discarded on the side of road; circuit boards, cut out from larger networked computer systems, discarded on the side of the road. bang! suitable collage companions.
mind you, they were still difficult to cut, and in the short time frame i had they are not as perfectly snug as one would ideally like, but they work suitably well. i hand cut about 6, breaking many coping saw blades before realising my electric jigsaw could do the task. that said, the jigsaw blade got blunt pretty quick and the last, little circles for the bundles of branch segments was cut almost exclusively by the friction of the flat, teethless saw blade.

these shots are actually from the gallery - Techno Park Studios. the lighting is a bit unkind for photography, especially for my little camera - but you get the gist.

so there it is!
i will need to take some better documentation photographs, perhaps enlist stuart for the task (http://littlesumo.wordpress.com/), as he has taken some great photos of my work previously (www.kentwilson.net).

i'm quite partial to the bundles of branch segments. i feel there might be some more work i could do in that vein. i'm still unsure as to whether i should have created a 'ground' for the piece. in the past, with these sort of sculptural works i have put down bark chips or gravel or fake grass. but in this instant i wanted it simple and have ultimately left it thus.

now, the work apparently needs no title for this show, but i always like to title my work so i've decided to call this group of sculptures - 'synapse'.