‘Strange Fruit’ challenges viewers to enjoy art on a deeper level
When approaching art, it is all too common for the viewer to examine a canvas or sculpture and attempt to decipher its inherent meaning or purpose. The most frequently asked questions are: What does this represent? What is the artist trying to say?
For Kate T Deacock, an artist and lecturer from the University of Western Sydney, this approach does not allow the viewer to experience the full potential that modern art has to offer.
"Art is not just about pretty pictures that are technically perfect. Sometimes life has no fixed meaning or purpose, and art is just the same – sometimes, it is not supposed to 'represent' anything," says Ms Deacock.
Ms Deacock's most recent art collection, 'Strange Fruits' – which is currently on display within the Factory 49 gallery at Marrickville – is working to challenge people's common, preconceived notions of what art is, and how it should be enjoyed.
The Factory 49 gallery specialises in non-objective work – which is art that is abstract and minimalist in form and does not represent or refer to any specific figure, place or thing in the natural world.
The 'Strange Fruit' series is a natural fit for this type of exhibition space as the small, mostly blank canvasses, which are carefully and deliberately arranged on wall-mounted shelves, appear both simple and ambiguous.
"This series of artworks were created by layering quite a number of transparent glazes, paints and renders over and over each other," says Ms Deacock.
"A lot of people might look at my work and think there's nothing there, and on the surface that is exactly right. But if they take the time to have a closer look, they will see hints of earlier layers peeping or seeping out here and there.
"Many of the layers are in fact different colours, and some of these appear quite flat and monotone, but if you look closely and long enough you might start to notice the subtle differences, variations and depths in tone, colour and transparency."
With 'Strange Fruit', Ms Deacock's challenge was to inspire people to stop, to be still for a moment, and to just experience the art.
"With this particular series, I saw it as my role as an artist to provide windows and doors through which people can access their highest hopes and deepest fears, and sometimes mirrors through which they can look back and see themselves," she says.
"By providing these 'blank canvasses', the 'Strange Fruit' series has the potential to be viewed as both everything and nothing. If people approach it with an open mind, they will be able to take away from it their own independent thoughts, feelings and associations.
"Appreciation of art can be very subjective and even fluid and changing over time. Hopefully, there will be some viewers that find this kind of work resonates with them; but it's not going to be for everyone, and that's okay."
Kate T Deacock, a recent recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart grant for budding artists, has been exhibiting in selected group shows in Sydney and Melbourne since 2005. She was awarded two prizes for excellence in mixed media/ assemblage painting at Sydney Gallery School in 2008 and held her first small solo show 'Urban Prehistoric' in 2009.
Kate's work moves between the realms of painting, assemblage, installation and sculptural/ constructed objects utilising mixed media, found materials and discarded objects. In recent years, she has been pursuing an interest in how human beings leave traces over time, either accidentally or otherwise, on urban surfaces.
Ms Deacock's affiliation with UWS goes back more than 20 years, to when she was one of the first students to enrol in the University's Master of Art Therapy program. She graduated from the program in 1995 and is now based within the UWS School of Social Sciences and Psychology, where she lecturers current Art Therapy students.
WHAT: Kate T Deacock's 'Strange Fruit' exhibition
WHEN: Open until Saturday 4th August
WHERE: Factory 49, 49 Shepherd Street, Marrickville
Ends
1 August 2012
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