Hannah Gartside
Gorgeous
Hannah Gartside 'Name plate (Gorgeous) 2022 dead stock cotton fabric found upholstery foam thread millinery wire enamel paint powder coated mild steel installation view. Photo by Andrew Curtis.
Hannah Gartside 'Name plate (Gorgeous) 2022 dead stock cotton fabric found upholstery foam thread millinery wire enamel paint powder coated mild steel installation view. Photo by Andrew Curtis.
Hannah Gartside 'Name plate (Gorgeous) 2022 dead stock cotton fabric found upholstery foam thread millinery wire enamel paint powder coated mild steel installation view. Photo by Andrew Curtis.
Hannah Gartside 'Gorgeous' installation view. Photo by Andrew Curtis.
Hannah Gartside 'Gorgeous' installation view. leather offcuts (factory remnants), cotton, silk and rayon velvet fabric scraps from 1930s-1960s dresses, dried lavender, embroidery and sewing thread, powder coated mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium 167 x 111 x 49.5 cm. Photo by Andrew Curtis.
Hannah Gartside | Gorgeous | 15 April – 6 May
Embedded in feminism and material culture, Hannah Gartside (born 1987, London, UK; currently based in Naarm/Melbourne) works across sculpture, installation and video.
Reimagining vintage and found textiles to create installations, sculptures and costumes, her skills of dress-making, patchwork quilting and fabric dyeing accrued during her former career as a theatre costumier at Queensland Ballet are elevated to the conceptually rigorous. Both deeply personal and fiercely communal, Gartside’s sensual and poetic works engage fundamental experiences and emotions of our human condition: longing, tenderness, connection, desire and wonderment.
Gorgeous
I am fascinated with the potential connection between a viewer and an artwork. What could we ask of viewers beyond their attention, and as artists, what can we offer? What is possible when both artwork and viewer have skin in the game?
In this group of works (which I think of collectively under the name Gorgeous), I want to share the pleasure and delight that I feel in making art and in art being a form of communication and connection. I think of my art practice as a lover, one that is consistent, generous, surprising and true. So, in part this is a show of gratitude for this relationship.
These works consider the physical gallery space as an abstracted version of a lover’s body. The sculpture Wall Kisser is hand-cranked by the viewer. On turning the handle the wall receives the repetitive, kiss-thud, kiss-thud of the velvet hearts. The lamp light here is a way-finder, illuminating a rendezvous. The name for this imaginary place is ‘Gorgeous’. It’s spelt out in fabric, thread and paint, the font enlarged from a 1970s coat label.
Hannah Gartside 2023