"undercurrent: New Works with Pigment on Paper by Katherine Fries"
2004-01-19 until 2004-02-27
McK17 Public Art Project Space
Sydney, , AU Australia

undercurrent is the latest series of paintings by Sydney artist Katherine Fries, displayed at McK17 - literally on the street, bringing a sense of nature into the centre of the city. Fries derives inspiration from experiences of landscape, however she goes beyond straightforward depiction to explore space, time, emotion, intuition and perception.

The concept for this series began at the beach, as I observed the patterns created on the shore as each wave seeped back into the ocean. I considered how to capture a sense of the repetitive yet shifting interplay between sea and sand, from the pounding turmoil of the breakers, the energy of the ocean currents and undertows to the quiet serenity of the marine floor.

Similar patterns, textures and colours are found in underground sandstone, made visible via man-made tunnels and roadside cuttings, allowing a glimpse of the geology underlying and shaping Sydney. The undulations, spheres and splits reveal how rivers and washouts have passed through the sand and soil, leaching, sifting and sorting the particles, forming the landscape. My painting process mimics this natural cycle, capturing the movement of water through sedi! ment whilst isolating individual layers. 

Using washes of pigment granules across large pieces of watercolour paper, I rely on intuition, chance and playful experimentation to convey a sense of movement through the tactile quality of the materials. Natural cycles of erosion, continuance and sedimentation are echoed in the paintings‚ composition, process and palette. The receding alcoves of the McK17 display cases recall coastal sandstone cliff faces, whilst symbolically drawing the viewer below the citys surface to the currents and cycles of the earth beneath.

Katherine Fries
Artist Statement, January 2004

Katherine Fries is Premiere Portfolio Artist at absolutearts.com. View more of her work at: http://www.absolutearts.com/katherinefries/>absolutearts.com/katherinefries/

IMAGE
Katherine Fries
Undercurrent 3
2003
78 cm x 108 cm

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