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The first phase of Artaviso ‘s Door to Door project is now live! An evolving virtual exhibition that will culminate in a physical exhibition in November 2020 at No Vacancy Gallery in Melbourne.
Here’s the image of my entry showing the finished artwork followed by the page from Newnes’ Pictorial Knowledge 1950s Encyclopedia (edited by Enid Blyton) which, selected at random, formed the basis of the artwork.
Check out my a mixed media artwork, Iso Charging Machine here
Check out the virtual exhibition “Door to Door” exhibition here
For sales enquiries please contact Hayley at @novacancygallery info@no-vacancy.com.au
Iso Charging Machine. Jenny Davis Being ripped from our natural normal states, during unprecedented times, this machine collects our thoughts, ideas, emotions and turns them into ingots. A kind of sorting machine for making sense of thoughts and the human state. Using as a sorting machine we may then see the bigger picture.
Once filled, each ingot is ejected from the mould and left to simmer and collate. Upon settling, thoughts, ideas and emotions disperse into smaller sections. Once, we can identify and describe our own emotions, action, can then be taken, to sort, keep, or delete. Some gold, some less important.
I’m not sure, if I’m finished with concrete & textiles, I was using a few years ago.. I’m thinking of very fragile wafers of concrete, sewn into, like sutures closing a wound, enhancing and protecting scars on delicate skin. Maybe it’s time to play some more…
Recently, a very kind lady donated her mothers doilies to me, for my next textile, art project. Though I have found it hard, rusting and burying this lot, I was re-assured that her mother would be happy to know they were given to someone who would give them a new life.
I’ts been perfect weather lately for rusting and burying.
After a good soak with white vinegar I wrap some with wire.
Mostly, I just lay the the cloth under a slabs of metal sheets, left over from my studio build then stack on top of one another.
I like to get them all dirty by burying them and stacking a heaver tray and rocks on top. I leave them there from 24 hrs. or, many months until I get the look I’m after.
4 weeks underground. Final unveiling just before dunking in a sink of water and bicarb soda, to stop rusting process.
This piece really excites me with the intense rust and black marks.
Such gorgeous delicate lace work crochet in this doily.
Rust n dirt with tiny black marks and colourful hand embroidery.
Rust with the contrast of beautiful hand embroidery peeking through.
A lovely bundle of vintage rust material ready to go for new projects.
New paintings available in my gallery. “Rustmatter” series. I want to capture the “beauty & hope” in decline, before its gone and continues my investigation into the disintegration and decay of the environment, of life and the human psyche.
Experiments with layers of rust, paint, iron shavings and salt. Finally, surfaces emerged, worn , weathered and sometimes ancient. I then sealed the paintings to keep stable and lock in the layers.
Each painting is a visual and textural descent into the abandoned, the derelict, the vacant and the forgotten. Curator & Arts Writer,Dr. Ewen Jarvis.
I grew up in a “make do and mend” family, where nothing much was thrown away and would be mended or, re-purposed into something else, therefore, many of my textile pieces are hand- made, created from antique & vintage sourced materials and may include, discarded, abandoned, found objects. I have been working with textiles all my life. My mother was a dressmaker and as a child, I would collect the fabric scraps and make wall hangings and soft sculpture.
“TurkRedghost” series
Sometimes the antique textiles I work with, seem to yell at me, but mostly, they lay silent, as I make my own marks alongside, others gone before. Ragged bits, old and new stitching, tracing marks left behind on old textiles are a reminder, of a time when women, had many obligations and few choices. I feel comfortable, as I stitch, tear, dye and reinforce the fragmented pieces. Somehow, I hope, in a small way, by reclaiming and reworking the textiles, I can give a voice to those women.
After exhibition blues has hit! I’m all painted out at the moment, but still enjoying some textile pieces Ive been playing around with for a while now. Looks like some old photos and found objects will make their way into the project too. Please see “Spaces Below” exhibition details in the sidebar on the right.
Ragged bits , old and new stitching, tracing the marks left behind on, 120 yr old textiles.
Memories and ghosts from the 1800s, remind me, as I work, of a time when women had many obligations and few choices.
A time when, women were completely controlled by their fathers, brothers and male relatives and their sole purpose in life was to find a husband, reproduce and then spend the rest of their lives serving him.
If you were to break free, you would be crucified, ridiculed and seen as “not normal, insane, bullied and tossed aside.
The textiles from the 120 year old quilt toppers I work with, sometimes, seem to yell at me, but mostly, they lay silent, as I make my own marks alongside others gone before.
I feel comfortable, as I stitch, tear, dye and reinforce the fragmented pieces.
Somehow, I hope, in a small way, by reclaiming and reworking the textiles, I can give a voice to those women.
Just like in my own life, when I was powerless, art gave me a voice to express myself, where once I had none.
Current Exhibition in the Main Gallery at Yering Station – 10 April – 20 May.
JENNY DAVIS — SPACES BELOW
Wallmatter, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 180 cm
‘Spaces Below’ is a visual and textural descent into the abandoned, the derelict, the vacant and the forgotten. Through her utilisation of forlorn industrial structures, stained and crumbling walls, acts of graffiti, redundant signage, and portals giving access to meandering subterranean systems, Jenny Davis evokes a unique vision at once spare and lavish, material and ghostly. It is a vision that elevates the significance of random marks, stress fractures and other imperfections, while enfolding the viewer in an atmosphere of chromatically gentle and strangely opulent decay. The abstractions that haunt these works are investigations of the many traces that run like hieroglyphs and riddles across the surface of neglected structures.
Davis’s subterranean life began in childhood. Drawn to ‘small spaces’ where she wouldn’t be disturbed, she would play in drainpipes, on vacant industrial sites and in newly constructed buildings, often working discarded materials into makeshift furniture and decorative objects. After an arts residency in Barcelona in 2005 and a visit to France in 2006, Davis steered her arts practice toward spaces reminiscent of those early childhood memories. In researching and documenting understructures, abandoned buildings and marks left behind in the built environment, she found ‘beauty in decay, random marks, aerial perspectives, graffiti and weathered surfaces’. Ever attuned to the narrative and oneiric possibilities of timeworn surfaces, Davis’s latest exhibition creates an altogether seductive immateriality from abrasive mediums such as cement, iron and rust.
Davis’s practice spans twenty-five years and encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, photography, book arts, textiles, installation‚ video‚ sound and virtual worlds. Her artwork has been exhibited in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and the US and is represented in numerous private and public collections. She has received awards and residencies both nationally and internationally, and her digital artworks have been projected onto buildings in Times Square, New York and in 2017 at The Venice Biennale 57. “La Biennale di Venezia” in Italy. Davis currently works from her studio in the Yarra Valley region of Victoria, Australia. By DR. Ewen Jarvis2018
Wallmatter 5, Acrylic, shellac, pigment, sealer on canvas, 122 x 92 cm
A small glimpse of paintings in progress for my next exhibition, in April at Yering Station Gallery. I will be showing, new and older paintings and will include an installation of framed photographs, “Spaces Below”, shot in France. The gallery is large and raw with an industrial feel. A perfect space for larger abstracts. All commissions taken from my sold artworks at Yering Station Gallery will be donated to…
As a small child I pulled things apart. Even, before I could talk, I ripped apart dolls and toys. I used to make little displays, installations of the fragments and other discarded things. Today I still pull things apart. I find fragments more pleasing and sometimes, even more interesting than the original object.
Recently, I pulled apart an old chair that had been hanging around for years. The wood was still good. The cloth and leather had grit and rust, just perfect for sculpture. The rustic bits and pieces also related to some textile fragments, I unpicked from an 1800’s, quilt topper. I’m still working on outcomes and painting has crept in too. Below are some pics of the process.
In the media we are bombarded with images relating to the massive global refugee problem. Links to the landscape, tracing the inhuman, nomadic chaos of the exiled, wandering the earth at this time in history. Each painting has been created, using acrylic paints and oil pigment on stretched canvas. Varies sizes.
I found an old army blanket from my childhood and couldn’t resist it’s raggedy worn, loveliness and further rusted it. Leaving it in the elements outside for a few weeks.
It can take ages moving pieces around to get the right composition.
then sometimes it just happens straight away.
Adding more marks…
The good thing about using a stretched canvas as a base, I can stitch right into it.
The process of transformation. Time, change, erosion and decay are qualities I like to celebrate. I examine and explore, the properties and possibilities, of my material and want to push the boundaries of something to get a deeper understanding.
In my latest project, I’m working with textiles over a 100 years old. I want to work with the worn and deteriorated textiles and collaborate alongside those, who in the past, so carefully stitched, mended and created, the pieces for comfort and warmth.
Each piece was once, carefully hand -stitched and now, breaking down and worn. I have very selectivity pulled apart and unpicked areas, and kept some intact.
Some areas of fabric, are so badly worn it breaks in my hands, so I have to reinforce it. Most pieces though are just left in their original state.
I then, like to push the process further with, natural & rust dying methods, mark making, hand stitching and painting with caste iron, botanical paints.
Numerous times, I expose the materials to the elements to experience the changes.
Getting to the essence of my material helps me to translate and describe its being. I rarely know the outcome of my projects and just go with the flow.
Sometimes, when I’m stuck for ideas making artwork and it’s just not happening, I like to throw a heap of things together and arrange them near my work.
The items, may relate in colour, texture and type or be opposing which, I find much more exciting. Your brain will automatically try to come up with solutions. Expanding your ideas and creating new ones.
The flow on of ideas is sometimes amazing. It can lead to, resolving the artwork in front of you, as well as, give you ideas for a whole new body of work.
Juxtaposition and connections of items together seems to work for me.
I believe there is a creative force that is connected to everything we do.
A series of mixed media collages. By reclaiming and re-using abandoned matter, each piece gives new meaning to the (discarded) found in the environment. Mark making with thread, found papers and stains.
VMX – Jenny Davis
TITLE VMX.
MED Acrylic gesso paint, ink, staining, acrylic sealer, found papers & font, thread and cardboard packaging mounted on deep olive green acid free board.
SIZE Artwork 5.5″x 3″ – 14x7cm.
SIZE Mount Board 8″ x5″ – 21 x 13cm. approx.
YEAR 2014
Signed on front by artist
Ready to frame
TITLE TraXE.
MED Acrylic gesso paint, ink, staining, acrylic sealer, found papers & font, thread and cardboard packaging mounted on deep olive green acid free board.
SIZE Artwork 5.5″x 3″ – 14x7cm.
SIZE Mount Board 8″ x5″ – 21 x 13cm. approx.
YEAR 2014
Signed on front by artist
Ready to frame
TITLE TraX.
MED Acrylic gesso paint, ink, staining, acrylic sealer, found papers & font, thread and cardboard packaging mounted on deep olive green acid free board.
SIZE Artwork 5.5″x 3″ – 14x7cm.
SIZE Mount Board 8″ x5″ – 21 x 13cm. approx.
YEAR 2014
Signed on front by artist
Ready to frame
TITLE TraX2.
MED Acrylic gesso paint, ink, staining, acrylic sealer, found papers & font, thread and cardboard packaging mounted on deep olive green acid free board.
SIZE Artwork 5.5″x 3″ – 14x7cm.
SIZE Mount Board 8″ x5″ – 21 x 13cm. approx.
YEAR 2014
Signed on front by artist
Ready to frame
TITLE VArow.
MED Acrylic gesso paint, ink, staining, acrylic sealer, found papers & font, thread and cardboard packaging mounted on deep olive green acid free board.
SIZE Artwork 5.5″x 3″ – 14x7cm.
SIZE Mount Board 8″ x 5″ – 21 x 13cm. approx.
YEAR 2014
Signed on front by artist
Ready to frame
You may remember a couple of years ago I wrote a post ‘Letters from the Border” about my entry into Landfillart Projectwhere I had to create art on a car hubcap . Below is the latest update video I received about the project.
On June 1, 2011 The Associated Press released a wonderful wire service news story about our international Landfillart Project.Our story was featured in hundreds of newspapers and many broadcast television news stories.
