|
|
|
|
Artist Exhibitions:
NUANCE
solo exhibition
Sydney Antique Centre
Exhibition Gallery
23 July - 23 August 2004
531 South Dowling St, Surry
Hills, Sydney, Australia.
Mon to Sun 10am-6pm
Ph: 61 29361 3244
www.sydantcent.com.au
Duo
The Gallery Cafe
13 July - 23 August 2004
74 Devonshire St, Surry Hills,
Sydney, Australia.
...
Further Information
|
|
Artist Galleries:
NUANCE
solo exhibition
Sydney Antique Centre
Exhibition Gallery
23 July - 9 August 2004
Drinks with the artist 3-6pm
Sunday 25 July
531 South Dowling St, Surry
Hills, Sydney, Australia.
Mon to Sun 10am-6pm
Ph: 61 29361 3244
www.sydantcent.com.au
Scratching the Surface II
The Gallery Cafe
...
Further Information
|
|
Artist Reviews:
Mads Genner, FBi Radio 94.5FM
July 2004
NUANCE
Does the thought of going to a
landscape watercolour
exhibition make you want to go
running and screaming in the
opposite direction?
Does the thought of going to a
landscape watercolour
exhibition held in an antique
centre make you want to ...
Further Information
|
|
Collections:
Katherine Fries' work features
in many local, national and
international private
collections....
Further Information
|
|
Commissions:
Katherine Fries is happy to
discuss commissioning artwork.
Please use the email link at
the top of the page to contact
her....
Further Information
|
|
|
Artist Statement for Katherine Fries
|
|
|
nuance
at the beach watching -
fragile patterns created in the sand,
as the waves seep back into the ocean,
a sense of repetitive yet shifting interplay -
between sea and sand,
pounding turmoil of the breakers,
energy of the ocean currents,
quiet serenity of the marine floor.
recalling similar patterns, textures and colours
in coastal sandstone cliff faces
and underground sandstone,
made visible via man-made tunnels
and roadside cuttings,
allowing glimpses of underlying
geology, shaping the city.
undulations, spheres and splits
reveal where rivers and washouts
passed through the sand and soil,
leaching, sifting and sorting the particles,
forming the landscape.
exploring a painting process,
mimicing this natural cycle,
capturing the movement of water through sediment
whilst isolating individual layers.
washes of pigment granules
across large pieces of watercolour paper,
reling on intuition, chance and playful experimentation,
conveying a sense of movement through
the tactile quality of the materials.
natural cycles of erosion, continuance and sedimentation,
echoed in the paintings’ composition,
process and palette,
recalling the currents and cycles
of the earth beneath us.
Katherine Fries 2004
......................................................................
nuance is a recent series of paintings by Sydney based artist Katherine Fries. Inspired by the subtleties and shifting nature of landscape, she goes beyond straightforward depiction, exploring facets of time, emotion, intuition and perception. Fries’ interest lies in the action of painting as a process, investigating the natural ways that traditional materials such as pigment, water and watercolour paper freely interact.
Drawing on Abstract Expressionism and Asian landscape painting traditions, particularly Japanese ink painting, her technique focuses on spontaneity and chance. A sense of transcendence is created with simple washes, natural bleeds, subtle shifts and graded space, creating depth that holds the viewer’s attention. Her use of colour and texture is particularly Australian, finding beauty in the natural cycles of erosion and sedimentation. In many of these works Fries captures an aerial sense of the earth, while simultaneously implying attention to almost microcosmic detail.
Perhaps the strongest element of Fries’ paintings is the relationship with the subjective viewer, as the patterns and forms trigger personal memories and associations. Atmospheric elements convey a unique sense of space, time and continuance, as the subtleties and layers allow the viewer to repeatedly return to the work to re-examine and reinterpret them. The works in nuance present a simple and resonant beauty, which is at once abstract but also immediately familiar and intriguing.
(media release, nuance solo exhibition, 23 July - 9 August 2004, Exhibition Gallery, Sydney Antique Centre, 531 South Dowling St, Surry Hills, Sydney www.sydantcent.com.au )
......................................................................
FRAGMENTED PERCEPTION
(artworks 17 - 36)
Each of my abstract paintings captures a detail of a moment in time – a frozen, magnified instant inspired by experiences of the landscape and the natural environment. Using spontaneous painterly techniques to create pause, to hold on to a fleeting perception in the constant changes around us, distilling an instant of beauty from both the gentle and dramatic natural phenomenon common in our daily experiences. The clouds flitting across the sky, the drama of a thunderstorm, an eroded rock face, cracked dried out puddles, the intensity of bushfires, moonlit reflections or a dry wind stirring dust and dead leaves across the ground. These paintings relate to such experiences whilst conveying a sense of time and transformation, each a singular fragment of perception.
Such ideas about nature run concurrently with this painting process - working with the natural ways in which paint behaves. Manipulating the way it moves dries and liquefies, but also relying on chance by allowing the paint to absorb and dry where it settles. Watching the paint spread across a wet surface leaving a gentle stain or globs of pigment in its wake and then settling like a high tide mark, is to experience nature from a different vantage point.
These abstract works are open to the viewer’s interpretation. In the more minimal works the composition allows meditative scope for the viewer’s thoughts, while other works are layered, forming depth and direction. As a whole, this body of work brings together details from landscape, aspects of chance and evocative abstractions from nature.
Katherine Fries
July 2003
FRAGMENTED PERCEPTION, solo exhibition, 8 August - 5 September 2003. ALTA Gallery, 69 Fitzroy St, Surry Hills, Australia
|
|
contact artist
