Kath Fries
Wednesday 27 April, from 7pm at Serial Space
Watching the heavy rain, waiting for moments of respite between downpours to see the surfaces of puddles and ponds lie still and flat, reflecting the surrounding trees, rocks and sky. Recalling my earlier explorations of lying square mirrors flat on the ground facing upwards to engage the viewer in looking down to see what is above. I was prompted to further my investigations of simple reflections and surroundings.
Variously positioned outside, my site-sensitive installations with mirrors were both subtle and confronting – depending on the viewer’s awareness and angle of approach. Hidden within foliage, some mirrors duplicitous reflections were lost in the bushlands’ surrounding complexity. The hard flat unnaturally reflective surfaces became illusive and camouflaged as their double images vanished amongst the setting’s abundant detail. Other mirrors were placed in the earth, like holes in the ground suggested portholes that viewers peered down into and simultaneously looked up towards the sky. Further panels were
balanced in tree branches like hovering windows allowing glimpses around invisible corners into other realms. Confusing and inverting the viewer’s usual vertical sense of gravitational reality, as though free-falling into a more cyclic unity between the elements of ground, growth and air.
Exhibition
Kath Fries completed her Masters of Visual Art in 2008 at the University of Sydney. She exhibits in Sydney and Melbourne ARI galleries, outdoor sculpture festivals and was recently an Artist-in-Residence at Laughing Waters VIC.
Fries’ art practice explores metaphors of interconnection, when an element from the everyday is used as a locus linking broader concepts of time and space, inviting viewers to discover their own sense of narrative within poetic subtleties of ephemerality, trace and residue.
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