We recently travelled out to the Peacock Gallery & Auburn Arts Studio situated in Auburn’s Botanical Gardens and spoke with Glenn Barkley the curator of the exhibition Objects in Space: Artists in the Garden.
The great English landscape designer Russell Page described Japanese gardens as a demonstration of ‘the relationship between objects in space.’
Using this as a cue Objects in Space: Artists in the Garden considers the influence of both ‘the garden’ and Japanese aesthetics on contemporary art forms. It explores the botanical as a source of inspiration to makers and the ongoing Anglo-Japanese tradition that underpin much contemporary craft with a particular emphasis on ceramics.
Spread across the garden itself and into the Peacock gallery the show turns on the relationships between the inside and outside bring the garden into the gallery space and the gallery space in to the garden.
Lastly it considers the garden as an object in itself and asks audiences to consider the relationships between plants – foliage, flower, texture and shape – and sculptural incursions into the garden as a way of articulating form, time and space.
The exhibition leads into spring and the gardens brief cherry blossom flowering – an occasion celebrated via the extremely popular ‘Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival’.
Enthusiasts of both contemporary art and traditional gardens will enjoy exploring the rich, subtle and detailed works on show at Peacock Gallery and in Auburn’s Japanese Gardens – themselves a symbol of goodwill and peaceful contemplation within Sydney’s busy urban and multi-cultural environs.
Particpating artists:
Merran Esson; Steve Harrison; Christopher Hodges; Audrey D’Mello; Keiko Matsui; Mitsui Shoji; Abdullah M. I. Syed; Garry Trinh; Toni Warburton; Cameron Williams; Woollen Fernery Project.
Peacock Gallery and Auburn Arts Studio
Auburn Botanic Gardens
Corner of Chiswick and Chisholm Roads
Auburn, NSW 2144
Until 23 October 2016
Open Tuesday – Sunday 11am – 4pm
For more information about Glenn Barkley visit the Curators Department website.
