Tiny dancer…
Archives for category: rats and mice
Have finally got a chance to upload photos of my rats and mice at the Carbon Black exhibition. Most works have appeared in previously in this blog however it was good to see them in a new space and they seemed to sit well amongst works exploring gritty industrial urbanism. This show finished a few weeks ago but the gallery focuses on interesting work by emerging artists and is worth a visit.
off the kerb gallery (on Johnson St, opposite the tote) is about to celebrate its 4th birthday with a group exhbition. Included will be handful of my spinning ‘say it with flowers‘ and ‘mice in love‘ disks.
Opening night: 6 – 9pm Fri 1st April. Exhibiton closes Fri 22nd April.
The exhibition is called ‘Pirate Existence’ and concentrates on works utilising salvaged and found material. Artists have been asked to turn discard refuse and abandoned items into treasure.
Here is a photo of the original picture disc by Thomas Mann Bayne for Joseph Plateau’s Phenakistiscope and my ‘Winged tribute‘ piece finished. The original picture disk is a part of the Werner Nekes collection which has all sorts of early illusion and animation pieces. The The images of the phenakistiscopes (picture disks) are located under ‘Gallery’ and then ‘Photos of the collection’.
I have yet to do some spinning experiments to see if I need to make any modifications to achieve the animation effect but am hoping it will work. I have tracked down an internet animation of the original wheel. If you scroll down to the thrid image on the left and click on the bottom right wheel you can see the rats running out of the central holes, across the disk and over the edge.
A mouse plague exploded in my house this summer and to make matters worse they are enjoying themselves. They are in love and dancing and spinning their little hearts out.
Exhibition is currently on at Brunswick St Gallery, Fitzroy but closes this Thursday, 17th Feb at about 4pm.
This piece didn’t get finished in time to make it into the BSG show. Will finish it in the next few weeks anyway. It is a 3D versions of a spinning / picture disk where, when spun, rats run out of holes and accros the page. Here the rats also grow wings and fly away. Will post a picture of the orginal with the finished work.
These mice are actually finished and installed in the Brunswick Street Gallery, however I haven’t had a chance to photograph the finished exhitibition so thought I’d blog a few more ‘mice factory’ images. Plus they look so cute and naked all prone and in a line. As with the flying mice I really like these guys half finished and layed out like a taxidermy project. The 3 who look like they are wearing bright coloured underwear are the ballerinas (or ‘mouserinas’ as a a friend brilliantly dubbed them) and the others end up as garland dancers. Promise to blog finished photos soon.
The Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts’ annual postcard show opened on Saturday. There was a great turn out and over 1800 pieces, from about 1600 artists on display.
The prizes were also announced and I am very proud to report that my ‘itty bitty kitty machine‘ was awarded one of the 6 postcard awards. Expect to see tiny kittens made from metcards on postcards across Melbourne later this year. I will recieve 100, so if you are not in Melbourne (or want to make sure you get one) let me know and I will mail them once they are printed.
Also in the exhibition is the prototype ‘lucky cat’ from my Cats and Mice show last year at Red Gallery. The post card show runs untill the 26th of March and is well worth the visit. Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts is at 26 Acland St, St Kilda.
Tissue boxes, metcard, postcards and chrissie cards made into mice.
The smallest mouse I have made yet. He is fixed to the top of a cardboard spinning top.
Finally have the invites for my new show…
Come along if you are in Fitzroy at the beginning of Feb. Am currently working on a wall of cogs and mice that are all interconnected. There will be spinning flowers and summer love and ballerina mice in crazy skirts… hopefully.
Here are some of the pieces I am making for my new solo show.
The show is title ‘cardboard mouse and the summer spin-sters‘ and I am making millions (maybe ?) of mice in wheels that spin and cogs that turn with flowers everywhere and generally an atmosphere of summer-time fun! The show is at the Brunswick Street Gallery and opens Friday 4th February, 2011 and runs until the 17th Feb.
Last week of the exhibition. Closes around 4pm on Saturday 9th October. Thought I’d try and get a few more images on-line. Most of these are happy snaps I have taken but a few of the better ones (like the lucky cats and the itty bitty kitty machine) are by my excellent photographer friend Erica Lauthier. I have taken a few movies of the pieces in motion but need to change format etc before I can post them up. Will try and do this early next week.
My first solo shows opens in 2 weeks at Red gallery, Fitzroy North.
Subtitled ‘mice running wild in the hall of the cats‘ the show includes the felines and rodents I have been making. Most of the pieces are kinetic is some way or other (mice that fly and run in wheels, rats with wobble guts and cats with waving fists).
There are also 2 other shows opening on the same night (Phil Roubin and Judith Cobb ). More information on these exhibitions can be seen on the Red Gallery website.
I made these rats because I loved the look of the winged mice lying on their backs with their innards on display.
These guys are best when they are also on their backs with their tails hanging over the edge. They have wavy, mulit-coloured gizzards (hanging below their bellies in these photos) which wriggle when you turn the key.
A bit more detail…
I like these winged mice sprawled on their backs. I would leave them like this but it seems a bit wrong given that you can’t see the tops of the wings or make them fly in this position. Think I will make some clock-work rats based on these guys. Bigger, though, and all filled cogs and wheels and stringy bits of guts that work and squirm when you turn a key.
Bodies of the winged mice assembled with tails and front paws. Next things to be added will be the heads and the all important wings.
Heads for the flying mice squadron.
Took the mice for a test spin on the weekend.
A series of Matryoshka Animals, the mouse fits inside the chicken, inside the rabbit, inside the elephant.
Made out of cardboard, Japanese paper and glitter contact.
Made in 2003.
Kirsty loves cardboard 
