kendal murray

Every Day Dreams

Beatty Gallery, Sydney 12/10/1999

In the exhibition "Every Day Dreams" the experience of day dreaming is conceptualised and metaphorically expressed through the use of fairy tale narratives.

The exhibition included a series of constructed panels made from a combination of found objects, pebbles, small timber window forms, as well as drilled, sanded and lime washed pieces of marine ply. The focal points within each composition engaging the viewer, before the eye and mind is led to another point of reference in picture plane by various textures and patterns and playful additions, all creating a narrative content. The various small window structures, which are used in all the constructed panels, are used to signify looking into another world, to see what you desire.

Playful titles such as "Encounters With Wild Animals", "Lost In A Dangerous Forrest" and "Meeting Strangers" have been used for the timber based wall hung assemblages, a number of which were multi panelled, to suggest the journeys and the fantastic, symbolic experiences of a subject within the fairytale narrative. The sculptural objects were titled to suggest the playfulness, drama, and imagination in the act of day dreaming.

The exhibition also included a number of free standing sculptures created from objects that form part of our everyday experience, enhanced with playful additions, which were used to suggest a narrative being both added to, and enacted onto the object; which can be understood as a metaphor for the experience of daydreaming. "Telling Stories" shows a vintage brush and mirror weighed down with a stone, and two child sized blue willow tea cups, balanced on the stone and the handle, while inside the cups reside tiny carved fish. The work speaks to the story telling involved in our daily lives, and the moments of fantasy that can sit side by side the routine of the every day.

"I Wish I Could Fly", takes the form of a business jacket and is made from timber veneer that has been cut and sewn, small timber windows, cotton and pebbles, suspended over a pair of timber shoe lasts that are both balanced on and balancing stacks of pebbles. The artwork proposes the experience of fantasy and playfulness within the structure of the ordinary.

Kendal Murray, 1999.

Playing Games
Playing Games
Timber, brass, pebbles, stainless steel cable
50cm (approx.) x 20cm x 20cm
Encounters With Wild Animals
Encounters With Wild Animals
Marine ply, timber, lime wash, pebbles, twig
and found objects
53.5cm x 119cm x 7cm
SHOWS