Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation
Brook Andrew: The Cell
08 ⁄ 07 ⁄ 2010 – 18 ⁄ 09 ⁄ 2010
Born in Sydney in 1970, Brook Andrew is one of Australia’s most exciting, conceptual and eclectic artists. Working with striking neon installations, powerful photographic studies, prints, sculpture and optical illusions Andrew explores the dynamics of intercultural engagement and the construction of history and power. Language and traditional designs from Andrew’s Wiradjuri heritage are combined with contemporary elements such as optical art patterns, pop art aesthetics, and the declarative strategies of advertising to create compelling and insightful pieces.
The Cell commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and presented in association with Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, is a hypnotic, immersive, large-scale installation. A 12.5-metre by six-metre inflatable decorated both inside and out with Wiradjuri-op designs, The Cell requires viewers to don a patterned costume before crawling via a tunnel into its patterned, cushioned interior.
"The original idea for The Cell is an extension of my wall pattern installations, where one is immersed in the pattern and experience’, Andrew says. ‘You are immediately transformed once you don a costume and enter The Cell. It’s like you become an inmate, a cellular astronaut or asylum seeker. Experiences of loss, asylum and genocide, an ‘outsider’, is turned on its head. The Cell is a conundrum, a monument to such stories, a space for quiet contemplation, disorientation and spectacle.’
The Cell will be exhibited at IMA 25 September - 20 November, 2010.
For more information about the artist, please visit Brook Andrew’s website here:
This exhibition is proudly supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation
Part of Sydney Design Festival 2010, presented by the Powerhouse Museum
Brook Andrew
The Cell, 2010
3D model representation
300×1250×600 mm
Courtesy UAP and the artist
Brook Andrew
Rendering of 'The Cell' costumes, 2010
dimensions variable
Courtesy UAP and the artist
