Halfway House

It's been some time since I've last posted, I've been quite busy to say the least with applications and invitations/press release.  I also applied for the William Fletcher Grants and the National Youth Art Portrait Prize so we'll see how that goes.

This month is busy with 4 shows:

I was in a group show 'Black and White' Feva Fundraiser last Fri-Sat which was wonderful. 3 works sold and I bought a few works to add to my growing art collection.

'Halfway house' - the honours group show is being opened this Thursday by Barry Keldoulis at COFAspace, and I've created an installation titled "we're hAIR apart" for it. I'll post some pics up soon.

Then there's the Waverly Youth Art Prize in a couple weeks that I'll have a work in.

And finally "on EST (we ARE)" in 3 weeks:

‘on EST (we ARE)’ 

A SOLO EXHIBITION BY MELANIE BOREHAM

KUDOS GALLERY 

9-20 JUNE 2009

OPENING TUESDAY 9 JUNE, 5-7:30PM

 

 

LOCKS OF HONESTY: 

AN ARTIST’S AFFAIR WITH HAIR

 

In her first major solo show ‘on EST (we ARE)’, young Sydney artist Melanie Boreham taps into something raw, something experienced by us all-our own vulnerability. The exhibition consists of a human hair installation and over 50 portraits created in the last 2 years, in which she has cleverly combined various methods of textiles, painting and drawing; engaging with the different dimensions of surface tactility. 

 

Hair, with its rich connotations has become the focus of Boreham’s current practice. Undertaking an Honours degree at the College of Fine Arts this year, she is working on a multi-disciplinary installation using disembodied human head hair to expose the dysfunctionality of our society’s relationships. For this exhibition she has composed an installation using various bundles of hair suspended from red balloons. The length and manipulation of the hair acts as a record of severed bonds.

 

Within her series of portraits, Boreham wrestles with our disconnection and desensitisation from one another, as we cannibalistically consume images and forget those represented. This is evidenced everyday in our urban environment, when simply walking down the street. No one smiles, eyes do not meet, and words are not spoken. Anything to the contrary is deemed out of the ordinary and curiously startles us. By painting and drawing these people, which are both friends and anonymous subjects, she attempts to confront and reconnect humanity with itself.  Her figures resist dismissal as their eyes reverse the gaze back onto the viewer.

 

Boreham recognizes that people often use their hair to construct a particular identity and emphasises this in her portraits through elaborate hairstyles sewn with wool. By forcefully stressing this act of defining an identity, she ensures that these people will not recede into a crowd that one can easily forget.

 

After having exhibited in nearly 20 group shows and awards, Melanie is proud to present this collection of works, which encapsulate a side of the human condition that we all can identify with.

 

Kudos Gallery

6 Napier St Paddington, Sydney.

Open Wed-Fri 11-6pm, Sat 11-4pm, Mon and Tues by appointment only.

Hope you can all make it...it's going to be great! I'll be spending the next 3 weeks working full-time on the balloon installation.