By Tanya Steele
A den of sculptures and imagery to please and astonish has emerged in the Yarra Valley and provides a thought-proking display that crosses time.
The breathtaking display of modern art is on display at YAVA from 17 August to 10 September and will lure eyes in every direction with an installation by artistic duo Ian George and John Bodin
“Museum of the Post Anthropocene” delivers a feast for the eyes with sculptures, constructions and photography to wander through.
“We’re in the time was called the Anthropocene now, which means the time of humans,” Ian George said.
The artist has imagined a post-apocalyptic landscape which provides only leftover materials and what humans will leave behind.
“After we’ve done what we’ve done to the earth – after we have all vanished from it, how does life recovering utilize a world that’s lacking in resources,” he said.
George’s sculptures are surreal and ethereal, created with found materials and play to the imagination of how life will evolve.
“It’s looking at the utilization of radioactive materials and their growth in their biological processes,” George said.
John Bodin’s photography offers a stark contrast to the sculptures and his images centre around urban urban decay and skyscrapers which serve to remind of the people that have been before.
“I like to comment on just mankind’s trace on the landscape, the utility of the landscape and the enterprises that leave behind it often, with a sort of semi-abstracted process,” he said.
It is the first time the pair have exhibited together and they met through the YAVA gallery initially.
“I wanted more artists involved and to go in a slightly different direction and medium, so we got John on board,” George said.
Bodin said the exhibition is didactic in nature and he wants to help bring awareness to people being “agents of change”.
“It’s through our choices that will make a difference from this point or in this in this in this period of time,” he said.
George said the key words that emerge for him are ‘grief and hope’.
“It’s a point of grieving but the hope that life will continue on after us,” he said.
The exhibition will run at the YAVA Gallery and Arts Hub at 252A Maroondah Highway (upstairs) Healesville until Saturday 10 September.
