2015
Museums and Galleries
The piano has been drinking not me Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, NSW, Australia
Blood on Silk: Blood Alcohol Content 2014, 30 x 20 (h) cm digital print
Prior to his retirement in 2015 Maitland’s long time Director, Joe Eisenberg organised what he described as one last begging exhibition of works on paper that were to be donated to add to the gallery’s collection.
Prior to his retirement in 2015 Maitland’s long time Director, Joe Eisenberg organised what he described as one last begging exhibition of works on paper that were to be donated to add to the gallery’s collection.
In the group exhibition The piano has been drinking not me a total of just under one hundred and seventy Australian artists responded to this idea.
My work Blood on Silk: Blood Alcohol Content 2014, 30 x 20 (h) cm digital print was my response to Joe’s begging lette
My work Blood on Silk: Blood Alcohol Content 2014, 30 x 20 (h) cm digital print was my response to Joe’s begging letter.
West Gallery, Hazelbrook, NSW Australia
This work Blood on Silk: Magenta, 2015, 285 x 285 cm, ribbon, paint and canvas was selected for the group exhibition Unfolded curated by Beata Geyer at West Gallery in Hazelbrook.
In this work the codified pattern of eight drops of blood falling from one metre onto a hard surface is further coded into a weaving pattern, using satin ribbons and solid canvas. Through variations of the dyed colour magenta and the reflective properties of the satin weave in the ribbon, the work responds to the position of the viewer relative to the angle of light as a photonic device. In addition the location of the work in the gallery space exposes the sideways view of the work to the casual passing viewer in the corridor. Magenta as a name for a colour has been linked with war and bloodshed since the name of the aniline dyestuff Fuchsine was changed in 1859 to magenta to celebrate the French victory at the battle of Magenta in northern Italy.
Other artists selected for this exhibition were Louise Blyton, Sue Callanan, Adrian Clement, Shavaurn Hanson, Joel Lambeth, Tom Loveday, Ian Milliss, Tobias Richardson, Margaret Roberts, Hayley West, Caroline Wilde and Kayo Yokoyama and International Studio.
Site Specific
Cementa 15, a four day biennial festival held in the former cement works town of Kandos in rural NSW.
My work Blood on Silk: Price Taker / Price Maker was installed in the Dabee Nursery and Bric a Brac store on the eastern edge of town.
In the context of the monetisation of what could be considered the un-monetisable and by contesting the preference for donation of blood for transfusion, the installation Blood on Silk: Price Taker Price Maker offers a provocative speculation about the economies, governance and transfer of risks and responsibilities in the supply of blood products and accessories through the immersive experience of an apparently live auction of blood. Our access to blood, a universal and seemingly abundant material, is constrained in this installation within an unfamiliar and disturbing economic context, which prompts the viewer to question the ethical, social, and medical frameworks of blood distribution and purchasing.
From an article written by Gina Fairley for Arts Hub in 2015 titled ‘Cementa15 - a regional festival in pictures Twenty good reasons to put Cementa on your radar - a festival that happens every two years in regional NSW was the opinion that ..
One of the more powerful works in Cementa15 was Fiona Davies’ work from her Blood on Silk series. Stacked in your typical tin shed at the Dabee Road Nursery, this installation combined a sound element of an auction of medical supplies - blood and plasma - what Davies said is not dissimilar to an agricultural auction.
The list of other artists in Cementa 15 was Alan Schacher, Alana Hunt Aleshia Lonsdale, Alex Wisser, Alexander Jackson-Wyatt & Paulina Semkowicz, Beata Geyer & James Culkin, Bill Moseley, Blak Douglas, Bruce Green, Christine McMillan, Dan Kojta, Dani Marti, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Djon Mundine, Elizabeth Day, Eugenia Raskopoulos, Fiona Davies, Fiona MacDonald, Fleur MacDonald, Genevieve Carroll, George Shaw, Georgina Pollard, Heidi Lefebvre, Ian Milliss, Jason Wing, Jenny Brown, Jesse Oliveri, John Conomos, Josh Harle, Juilee Pryor, Justene Williams, Karen Golland, Karla Dickens, Kim V. Goldsmith, Kurt Sorensen, Leahlani Johnson, Mark Booth, Mark Brown & David Standfield, melanie e. khava, Mr & Mrs Brown, Nicole Barakat, Nola Farman, Robyn Backen, Sarah Goffman, Sean O’Keeffe, Starrs & Cmielewski, Tina Havelock, Stevens Wade Marynowsky, Williams River Valley Artists’ Project (WRVAP), Yiorgos Zafiriou, and Yvette Hamilton