Artist Georgia Crowden invites people to interact with her “squishy” artworks. Photo: Chris Roe.
Wagga artist Georgia Crowden has been reflecting on the past and the places and things that sit at the heart of our experience of life.
“I’m really interested in domestic spaces and the objects within and looking at how those objects can hold memories and how they can shift and change through time,” she mused.
Georgia’s new exhibition ‘the chairs we sat’, has seen her adorn the walls of the Curious Rabbit Cafe with an array of soft sculptures in varying shades of purple fabric that rest against painted paper and represent chairs of the past.
“I was thinking about the dining room and how, when I was younger, it was a place of gathering and how at the end of every day you would come together and share stories,” Georgia explained.
“So when you think about what kind of objects could represent that, the dining chair was just a natural choice.”
Vickie Birkinshaw welcomes guests to The Curious Rabbit at the opening of ‘the chairs we sat’. Photo: Chris Roe.
The soft, pillow-like sculptures with their fraying edges and distorted yet familiar forms cast faux shadows on the painting behind and compel the viewer to look closer and to touch them.
“I’m always thinking about how when you reflect back on your memories from when you were little, they can kind of shift and they’re very squishy,” Georgia explained.
“I also really like tactility in my work, so having soft sculptures that people can interact with just felt right with these forms that are melted and moulded from a regular dining chair.”
Georgia graduated from the ANU School of Art in 2018 where she majored in sculpture and drew inspiration from the likes of pioneering pop artist Claes Oldenburg.
“He was an American artist who was upsizing everyday objects into large, soft sculptures,” Georgia said.
“He actually had a series that was made from vinyl. There was a soft toilet and he also did giant foods as well, so I think that he was a huge inspiration because I hadn’t seen work like that before.”
‘the chairs we sat’ is showing throughout March at the Curious Rabbit. Photo: Supplied.
After trying her hand at this unique approach to art, Georgia found she was drawn to the fluidity and interactivity that soft sculpture offered.
“We had a project that was basically to upscale an everyday object to be super large and I chose a hammer,” she said.
“It was really fun to be able to take this super rigid, hard object and turn it into this two-metre, giant squishy thing that people could interact with and you’re kind of subverting the object and then you question the form.”
Georgia explained that inviting people to physically engage with the work was a way to break the barrier between the artist and the viewer and to deliver a unique sensory experience.
“That audience participation is such a vital aspect because that sort of interaction is something you don’t often get to do,” she said.
“I feel allowing people to touch and squish the objects is like a nice way of sharing the way that I work.”
‘the chairs we sat’ is showing throughout March at The Curious Rabbit.
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