TAKE CARE

Take Care is a project I have been working on for the Emerging Curators Program at Arts SA. It has been a fantastic few weeks and I have been enjoying every second of the process. I love working with artists, and having power meetings with execs. I thought it would be great to share a little about my curatorial rationale and some of the artists involved in the exhibition.  

Amy Joy Watson

Amy Joy Watson’s beautiful pastel balsa wood sculptures are delicate geometric structures that seemingly float against the strain of gravity. Hand stained and stitched together, they refer to fragility and fragmentation while remaining solid and organic. 

Paul Sloan

Paul Sloan’s aesthetic swings wildly between the delicate and the brutish, both within and between images. The relationship between frailty, power, beauty and violence are at the core of his practice. His work, mostly based on paper uses a minimal, washed out palate with occasional moments of colour. 

Take Care, brings together works from a diverse group of practicing South Australian artists. The exhibition, displayed across two locations, the Arts SA Offices and the Office of the Chief Executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, explores the concept of the idiom take care, referring to being protective, both of the art object and of oneself. 

Alex Valero

Alex Valero is a glass artist currently studying at SASA. His practice investigates our understanding of the universe; expansive and unknowable. Through glass forms Valero questions the shape of space, the formation of galaxies and our human relationship with the infinite. 

The title Take Care stems from a dichotomous understanding of how works of art should be approached. As art has the possibility to affect and be affected, it sometimes needs to be approached with caution; it can be precious, fragile, strong or dangerous. Take Care refers to the need to be careful with the works of art, either because they are delicate, or because they are volatile and potentially dangerous.

Alex Tuffin 

Alex Tuffin uses processes of  crocheting, embroidery and printmaking to investigate the delicacy of personal words and memories. Her work asks the viewer to come in close and read her fine, fragile words and to take care of both the object and the content.

The works chosen for this exhibition display a dichotomous reading of Take Care, some presenting the precious, some presenting the perilous, and some taking on both notions at the same time.

Heidi Kenyon

Heidi Kenyon’s practice uses a cross disciplinary approach to explore the ideas of memories, found objects, whispers and shadows. Her work is subtle but powerful and through it Heidi eludes to the unknown. With Heidi’s work, the viewers have to take care of their own memories, as well as the shadows of long lost memories that remain hidden in objects.