‘Snow is Flesh’ will feature both video works and drawings that meditatively speak to the human experience of decay. The exhibition will feature recent and previous works that are part of a series of drawings for which Kozak received the Marie Ellis OAM Prize for drawing in 2012. These drawings are simple pencil and paper compositions that abstractly illustrate the frayed fibres of individual strands of wool. For the artist, the choice of subject matter resonated with experiences of illness, and the inevitable and uncontrollable changes that effect the human body on which we are all precariously dependent upon. In this sense, the drawings can be seen as acts of meditation, producing beauty from the disconcerting consequences that a dependence on our bodies can create. In a similar way, the drawings can also produce a meditative effect for viewers, with the detailed fibres inviting a kind of contemplation that allows for a daydream-like suspension from self-awareness. This suspension from self-awareness also takes effect in Kozak’s video works, particularly in ‘Vapour Trails’, which captures the sinking dispersion of vapour trails in the sky accompanied by a wistfully beautiful composition by Canadian musician Chris Reimer.
Please join the Peter Kozak and curator Kate Mackenzie at A-CH Gallery on Saturday July 26 at 6pm for light refreshments to celebrate the opening of ‘Snow is Flesh’.
