During the cooler months, local artist Melissa Spratt has taken up residency in our mezzanine studio, weaving together notions of identity and ecology into an array of new installation-based works.
Melissa’s art making process is centred on a sense of comfort, a process that is essential to her existence, one that supports her hopes and dreams, and that gives her solace in the times she needs it. ‘Essential Existence’ aims to transmit Melissa’s feelings of ease and well-being whilst extending the boundaries of material manipulation. Her works explore these themes via intricate finger-knitting, felting and painting techniques. Through these tactile material encounters the viewer is invited to examine the essence of their own personal existence and experience. Essentially, Melissa’s recent works question the art making process and the notion of the comfort zone, prompting us to consider that potentially all art is about comfort to a certain degree, whether it is about pushing one out of their comfort zone or embedding them further in to it.
For more information please visit the website – www.thewalls.org.au
Image credit: Melissa Spratt ‘Comfort’ [2018]
