Exhibition 54

Overview

Exhibition 54, C3 Contemporary Art Space’s latest slew of group and solo exhibitions, makes for pleasant lazy weekend afternoon meandering.

In Gallery 1, Claire Davies’ Opposing Forces presents sculptural pieces that hang as awkward, static objects in loose coils, accompanied by intricate pastel-hued prints that are vaguely reminiscent of an almost dreamtime style. Exploring themes of separation, bodily function and magical thinking, Davies’ abstract, yet somewhat familiar works resemble re-imagined internal organs. You may leave with grand plans to take a paintbrush to your liver or string up those old intestines you've got lying around as an avant-garde spin on interior decoration.

Nearby in Space A, Andre Tjaberings’ Battle Life examines the idea of cities as manifestations of the human psyche. The walls are lined with a combination of surreal, architectural paintings and complex digitally designed prints, resulting in something like a cross between The Jetson’s, Transformers and the world’s most frustrating game of Tetris.

Tucked away in the Project Room, The Earth Bling Experiment by Deb K Williams is every bit as fun as it’s name suggests. A response to the question, “What kind of jewels will they take to the moon?” and the statement, “Arranging a room for conversation”, both of which Williams found in a 1960 Scientific American magazine, the installation is an assortment of textural, otherworldly objects your mum definitely wouldn’t have let you get your sticky paws on. You’re a grown up now, so you can do whatever you want (except touch the art).

The group exhibition World In My Eyes, located in Space B, is a delicate, childlike tableau of ceramic works courtesy of Arts Project Australia. Dainty little ballet flats sit alongside a collection of handcrafted cameras and a coiled up snake takes up residence in the back corner of the exhibition — contemporary art can be frighteningly real sometimes.

Along with The Earth Bling Experiment, the shiny pearl inside the C3 oyster is Al Ouchtomsky’s Purple Sunset For Orange Lexus in Gallery 2. The collage-based exploration showcases a series of imagined landscapes that straddle the divide between the digital and analogue realms. Alongside a number of the grooviest modern-day diorama’s you’ve ever seen, Ouchtomsky’s work is a seemingly random (yet undoubtedly considered) future-retro ode to the days of psychedelia. According to the exhibition copy, “One may contemplate a time when future creatures might one day unearth this civilization and it’s hordes of disparate detritus.” They’ll probably just throw a rave.

Image credit Deb K Williams, The Earth Bling Experiment