Fat & Flat #4
Axis Gallery, Parks Arts & Function Complex
Season Closed



'Fat & Flat #4' is the fourth exhibition of its kind for the SALA Festival that features work by artists participating in the Parks Arts and Function Complex's artist-in-residence program. This program supports both emerging and established artists who are given the opportunity to use the Complex's studio facilities, while at the same time, being able to share their practice with the local community through a number of workshop programs and community arts projects. This initiative of the Parks Complex was first established in 2001 and has supported some 37 artists who have contributed to South Australia's cultural fabric; not bad for a community gallery funded by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield that does not have the benefit of being situated near the city, nor is located in the growing arts hub of the Port.

This year the artists-in-residence are Kim Beaman, Adele Booth, Mel Curtiss, Danica Headland, Sam Jeffries, Helen Kavanagh, Hans Kreiner, Marie Littlewood, Josh Pearce, Jennifer Taylor, Karen Tenni and Lawrence Wilkes. Obviously, as is often the case with group exhibitions by artists who work with divergent media, the ensuing eclecticism can pose visual continuity problems. However 'Fat & Flat #4' is neatly unified by its theme and very well hung considering its inclusion of installation, sculpture, mixed media, photography, painting, printmaking, ceramic and glass.

There are many highlight works in this exhibition. Sam Jeffries' Earth Tablets are beautiful earthenware compositions that call to be explored more closely. They appear as broken pieces of an age-old story that require contemplation. Josh Pearce has contributed a large body of paintings for this show, some of which have a seemingly old Master feel about them on one hand, yet display contemporaneous qualities of our current environment on the other. In this suite of images, Pearce's best works are those on board. Adele Booth's An Imaginary Life mixed media piece is extremely interesting as it charts, using object and text, the geographic location of four found items. Each considers the relationship between the individual from whom the object is lost and the environment in which the object is found.

The concept of 'Fat & Flat #4' is certainly an ideal way to showcase the Parks Arts & Function Complex's artist-in-residence program, suitably coincided with the annual SALA Festival event.