Remnant Exhibition a Sharing of Connection and Memory

The Remnant exhibition is by three Perth-based Artists Kathryn Haug, Fiona Leuenberger and Chloe Tupper, who met while studying visual arts at Curtin University.

Mediums used in the exhibition include oil paint, water colour, silk, and human hair, painted onto board and canvas, with the primary medium of all three artists being oil paint.

The three Artists were drawn to working together by a shared interest in depicting connection and memory through paint. The Artists also share an interest in the materiality of paint – such as, how it feels, looks and behaves.

City of Melville Acting Curator Claire Bushby said, “The Remnant exhibition shows that each Artist has responded to these themes in different ways.”

Artist Kathryn Haug said, “I focus my attention on the materiality (or look and feel) of the paint and use concise mark-making to simplify images, bringing them to the border of complete abstraction. 

“Fiona has engaged with imagery from a recent trip through France and uses a brush to depict ambiguous scenes, while pouring thinned colours over parts of the surface.

“Chloe’s paintings are often small and intimate, the marks and colours half revealing, half concealing images. Some works are covered with a layer of silk which is then sewn into with strands of human hair.
“Many of the works for Remnant are ambiguous in terms of their content, imagery and meaning as memory itself is often ambiguous, faded, simplified or undefined. It is hoped that visitors to the exhibition can understand the work through their own experience of memory and a sense of connection, while finding interest in the material qualities of the paintings in this exhibition.” 

Curator Claire Bushby added, “The Heathcote site itself is a place which holds many layers of memory for a diverse range of people in our community. This meditation on memory has a lovely resonance with how history and memory are intertwined and we hope this will be evoked for visitors to Remnant.”

“This connection to the past through our memories is something that we all experience. Sometimes it may be just a small trigger that stirs a past moment - perhaps a moment that has stayed bonded with our concept of a place years after the fact.”

Remnant will be opened by Curtin University Department of Art Lecturer Fran Rhodes on Friday, 13 April 2012 at 6.00pm. RSVP to the opening by Wednesday, 11 April 2012 to claire.bushby@melville.wa.gov.au or phone 9364 5666.

The exhibition will run from Saturday, 14 April to Sunday, 20 May 2012 at the City of Melville’s Heathcote Museum and Gallery, 58 to 60 Duncraig Road in Applecross. Opening hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10.00am to 3.00pm and Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon to 4.00pm.