10 - 18 October 2020 "material is a means of communication. That listening to it, not dominating it makes us truly active, that is to be active, be passive. The finer tuned we are to it the closer we come to art." Anni Albers DUST + SCRATCHES was a group exhibition on show during Artweek … Continue reading DUST + SCRATCHES
July 2020 The Body Has No Edge, [glass, mirror, stones, dirt, grass, plastic, screws, copper, wire, circuit board, aluminium, plastic, hand welded steel, dimensions variable]. My first connection to this material was in December last year in the middle of the night. I phoned the police as I witnessed a fire and explosion not far … Continue reading The Body Has No Edge
Using a range of found, mostly discarded materials, my sculptural practice is interested in the way material bodies, both human and non-human are situated, positioned and constituted as “part” of the world. I am interested in how meaning is measured, examining what matters and how it comes to matter. A broad range of artists and … Continue reading Literature Review
https://videopress.com/v/GKtoS582?preloadContent=metadata Could Go Either Way Found 6mm steel sheet, rubber, glue, paint, spray paint, hand welded bracket, screws. These steel sheets formed the sides of a large crushed container I passed daily near my home. It caught my attention because although it was large scale, it looked like a squashed cardboard box. This initial encounter, … Continue reading April Seminar
February Seminar 2020 Recurring Remainder (found demolished galvanised steel tube and wire mesh fence, galvanised brackets, bolts, steel support) “Matter is an infolding, an involution, touching itself. The past is never finished and the future is not what will unfold. The world holds, or rather is the memories of its iterative reconfigurings”.1 Karen … Continue reading Recurring Remainder
My first outdoor sculpture commission for Riverhaven Artland (Sculpture Park) in Clevedon, Auckland opened over Anniversary Weekend on the 24th January 2020. Owned by the Blundell family for three generations the farms aim is to be "A place where nature greets art", encouraging visitors to interact and respond with the living environment. Upgrade, 2018 (discarded … Continue reading Upgrade
November 21 - 23 2019 In the site of a former glass blowing workshop, 'Zero Governor' brings together artists working with energies as transformative agents, exploring the potential of heat, light, and power to act upon matter. Not Yet Titled, 1-5, 2019 Installation detail Zero Governor. I used a different installation strategy for Not Yet … Continue reading Zero Governor
EXHIBITION AND AUDIENCE : MFA Seminar 3: July 2019 Not yet titled, 2019 [Installation Whitecliffe St Georges Bay Road Studios] Not yet titled, 1-5, (found solidified molten aluminium, screw, charcoal, ash, dirt, plant matter, pot riveted aluminium bracket, nuts, bolts, steel staple pin, hand-bent steel rod, concrete, recycled engine oil.) Found in the back of … Continue reading Not Yet Titled
April 2019 Spur of the moment, Found steel reinforcing mesh, steel cable. The builder laughed, telling me “It’s not even mine. The guy next door dumped it, He didn't want it, so he folded it up with a digger and pushed it onto my site. It's all yours if you want it, but it's bloody … Continue reading MFA Seminar 2: Work in Progress
Contorted steel, fragments of demolished buildings, twisted fences and solidified molten aluminium are some of the varied materials I seek to highlight in my sculptural installations. I choose these discarded forms because they defy the structural strength they have been industrially manufactured to demonstrate and I see potential in the diversity and complexity of their … Continue reading Reflective Statement
Mel Arnold 