Still Life Still

September 22nd, 2011

Still Life Still brings together the work of artists Akira Akira, Wendy Fairclough and Nicholas Folland. In their own unique ways, the artists bring domestic objects into a new context, exploring some very personal human experiences.

Akira Akira combines found and constructed objects to create sculptural forms. His work is a reflection of Anish Kapoor’s statement that one of an artist’s main tasks is to “undertake one’s training in public.”

“The works included in Still Life Still are evidence of my partaking in such an activity,” explains Akira.

Akira Akira, (Untitled), 2011, various materials

“They may be the most personal of my works to date. It is not necessarily because the content of the work is personal but rather due to the fact that I have been through an intensely difficult period in terms of the process of making. For some time, I feared that I may not have anything at all to show… I cannot do anything else here but to acknowledge the difficulty and struggle that is embodied in these works.”

Wendy Fairclough explores human experiences through her delicate glass sculptures.

Wendy Fairclough, Commonality, 2010, Cast lead crystal, acrylic rod

“The installations reference domestic objects, which allows the viewer to immediately identify with the work and bring to it their own stories and understandings,” Fairclough explains.

“My intention for this body of work is to focus on objects, activities and behaviours that are intimately familiar for people from different cultures and belief systems, for example, sweeping floors – in essence, to focus on what we have in common rather than our differences.”

Wendy Fairclough, Cache, 2010, wooden table, wooden chair, hand blown and manufactured glass

Nichoas Folland looks at anxiety surrounding potential failure “through a relationship between the controlled space of domestic dwelling and the unpredictable chaos of the natural environment.”

“By forcing familiar everyday objects and appliances to a point of excess, and by colliding their practical application with their inherent reference to naturally occurring forces, I attempt to highlight a fragile relationship to the world, and to shift our perceived sense of stability and security within the home,” Folland says.