Alta Forma presents: Audrey Tan ‘salt water buffet’
28 August - 22 September, 2024
salt water buffet…
Alta Forma is delighted to present Audrey Tan’s solo exhibition ‘salt water buffet’. Audrey is a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller currently based in Naarm via Boorloo. Working across drawing, bricolage, metalsmithing and gardening, she is interested in the entanglements that exist between people and objects - and how objects of adornment can act as absorbers of energy, and markers of time, site and self.
‘salt water buffet’ will be open from Wednesday 28th August at 11am. Please join us for the Opening Celebration on Saturday 31st August from 2-5pm. All welcome.
Alta Forma is also delighted to present ‘Sick Bay’ an ongoing collaborative project between artists John Brooks and Audrey Tan. ‘Sick Bay’ will be at the gallery on Saturday 21 September 11am - 2pm to collect your worst object to be remade on site. Working through various processes of destruction and reconstruction, the artists believe that by destroying ‘cursed objects’ (symbolic physical representations of frustration), and embedding them into new and refreshed arrangements, they become potent charms to ward off negativity and bring luck. “Objects that have been brought to us include; a pencil, a dinosaur crayon, a wedding ring, a raccoon penis bone, an angel pendant, a plant tag from a pot plant that withered, a cast from a broken leg, and a broken bike light.” Please note your original object will be dismantled and destroyed in the process - you will be able to pick up your new remade object from the gallery when it is ready.
‘salt water buffet’ considers:
Relative humidity, transfer matrix
Café in a science building only serving squashed food
Very low ceilings in a library
Pro rata
I for indigo, T for tango
Split ends, banana split, orange supreme
Nasty piece of work
Hygiene factor
7 of cups/page of wands
High emotions with special answers
A foil imprint with rocks embedded
Pest sitting, kissing babies, swallowing pocket vegetables
A luxury mood ring
Sculling water but swallowing air instead
Liquid stars in the Haunted Cupboard
I seem to have lost all my baby lemons
Infinite sinking
Pimple patches arranged in the sign of the cross on my face
Leave your rubbish outside the door but you can bring it inside if you like
Chain of hearts, chain of frogs, chain letters
About the Audrey Tan:
Audrey received a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from Monash University in 2014, and an Advanced Diploma of Jewellery and Object Design at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2018. Recent exhibitions include: triple power of plants, Goolugatup Heathcote (WA), I’m writing this in case there is a spell to make me forget, Assembly Point (VIC), eternal return boulevard, TCB (VIC), Swamp Breathing, Blindside (VIC), and blowing my nose on the hem of my dress, Mailbox Art Space (VIC). Artwork details: Audrey Tan, recent studio views, 2024.
About John Brooks:
John Brooks is a Naarm-based artist of Irish/English descent. Originally trained as a weaver, he works predominantly in soft materials, incorporating drawing, sound, sculpture and video to explore the interconnected relationships between human beings and non-human entities and the overlapping and interdependent histories of pottery and weaving. Through a materials lead practice, he incorporates symbolism, slow craft and digital processes to reflect on the impact of objects and materials on humans, as well as the anthropomorphic qualities we project onto things.
‘salt water buffet’ is presented as part of Radiant Pavilion, 2024. The Naarm/Melbourne Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial.
