Shipwreck
Danae Natsis
29 October – 16 November 2013
Studio 20/17, Unit 6b, 2 Danks Street, Waterloo, Australia
Concepts are intertwined with the processes employed in this series, which was made while pondering the act of creation — the roles of chance and the subconscious in the artistic process, and how shapes and meanings manifest themselves in an object. Accidental and random designs have a winsome allure that has long fascinated artists, but is what we humans do ever truly random? Can we make without applying meaning?
The works were conceived through working with accidents & play after a period of travel through Europe, America & Greece: experimenting with shape, material, process & colour; allowing these outcomes to acquire meanings that may have been present as subconscious thoughts & building on them; letting themes (islands, myths, museums & memories) evolve. The works are about the accidental creation of beauty & expression, my Greek heritage & the effects of time on objects. Automatic drawings have become coastlines of Greek islands & barnacled textures of submerged ancient artefacts. Experiments with patina & pigment mimic 3000 years of oxide. Anodised niobium creates psychedelic aquatic creatures. Randomly hammered & wrinkled 3D shapes protrude like archipelagos. The meandering lines now reference journeys: ancient mythological quests, the voyages of seafaring vessels that lie wrecked beneath the waves & my own wanderings (geographical, conceptual, & temporal) discovering my heritage, path & place.
Relating to the passage of time on surfaces, metals are coloured using different kinds of oxidising techniques, like anodising niobium, blackening silver, blue/green patina on shibuichi & copper, & adhered pigment encrustations. Shapes are arbitrarily cut from thin sheet & hammered to create three-dimensional folded & wrinkled forms. The hammered textures are then used to create the anodised patterns through a repeated process of abrading & anodising. The cut-out sections are saw-pierced without drilling. The lines are traced from the coastlines of islands & the holes marked in with closed eyes. Allowing freedom to let the object & the meaning develop naturally & playfully is important in this series.
Just as the beauty of a shipwrecked artefact has grown from a random accident so has the inception of the forms, lines & concepts in this series.
Scroll down to see all images
Archipelago
Aρχιπέλαγος
2013, shibuichi, anodised niobium, 925 silver, patina, remainium
16 x 9 x 3 cm
Polyphemus
Πολύφημος
2013, anodised niobium, silver, copper, patina
11 x 11.5 x 4 cm
Icarus
Iκαρος
2013, anodised niobium, 925 silver, 9 carat gold & silver bimetal
11.5 x 11.5 x 3 cm
Artefact
2013, anodised niobium, silver, copper, pigment
14 x 12 x 4 cm
Ionians
Iωνες
2013, shibuichi, anodised niobium, 925 silver, patina
25 x 19 x 2.3 cm (variable)
Nemertsika
Nεμέρτσικα
2013, anodised niobium, silver, remainium
11 x 10.5 x 2.5 cm
Rosy Fingered Dawn
Pοδοδάκτυλος Hώς
2013, anodised niobium, 9 carat gold, 925 silver
4.5 x 3.5 x 1.5 cm each
Encrustacean
2013, anodised niobium, copper, 925 silver, pigment, remainium
Antikythera
Aντικύθηρα
2012, anodised niobium, silver, remainium
15 x 12.5 x 4 cm
Anthozoa
2013, shibuihci, anodised niobium, 925 silver, patina
5.5 x 5 x 1.6 cm
Argonauts
Aργοναύται
2013, 925 silver
18 x 14 cm
Ariadne’s Clews
O μιτoς της Aριάδνης
2013, 9 carat gold and silver bimetal, 9 carat gold hooks
6.3 x 2.6 x 2.6 each
Tantalus
Τάνταλος
2013, anodised niobium, 925 silver, copper, shibuichi, pigment, patina
8.5 x 7.5 x 2.5 cm
Ogygia
Ωγυγία
2013, shibuichi, anodised niobium, 925 silver, patina, remainium
5.5 x 8.5 x 2 cm
Meander
2013, anodised niobium, 925 silver, remainium
8 x 6.5 x 2 cm
Earrings for the Green Woman
2013, anodised niobium, 925 silver
Selene’s
Tης Σελήνης
2013, 925 silver
6.5 x 2.3 x 2.3 cm each
Helios
Hλιος
2013, anodised niobium, 925 silver
7.5 x 5 x 1.7 cm
Cnidaria
2013, shibuichi, anodized niobium, pigment, 925 silver
7 x 4 x 2 cm each