IRENE BRIANT SUM OF ITS PARTS
IRENE BRIANT SUM OF ITS PARTS 3 JULY TO 24 JULY 2015
Sum of it’s Parts A collection of assemblage pieces and small sculpture Sum of Its Parts chronicles my latest discoveries about relationships between objects and shapes across a visual field. Objects proliferate in the studio, they come with a history with a shadow in tow they evoke a memory an association a thought almost lost. Small things second hand broken abandoned sometimes easily identifiable sometimes recognizable only as a part of something that once was and other times they revel in a secret origin. Some things settle easily into a designated place, now part of a series - one thing quickly leading to another. Others resist being pinned down put into line instead insist on moving around countless times occupying likely spaces until a satisfactory placement is negotiated. Mundane as bits and pieces of something no longer valued, they flourish in their new existence. A session in the studio, the excitement of small discoveries. Similarities and associations. Correspondences of colour, form, texture, shape accumulate and multiply across the wall. This piece with that, seemingly an odd juxtaposition but often it works, it sings, sounds like poetry, visual poetry. A stanza in black and white another a repetitive rhythm of three-dimensional structures built from fragments like words on a page, made for each other. A vocabulary built from objects a language that attempts to create a special order from the chaos of material things. Irene Briant July 2015
Irene Briant is the maker of one of the largest works in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery collection, where I am a curator. Commissioned in 1998 and funded by the Australia Council, Requiem is a monumental composition about the extinct King Island Emu. The work includes a life-size wire emu and numerous ‘archival’ boxes made from black mesh that house feathers, cast eggs, bones, and other ‘remnants’ of the bird that was so swiftly eradicated following European arrival on the island. Printed emu tracks form a grid on the gallery floor, joining the separate elements. The only dilemma is Requiem’s ambitious scale .. so large that it requires a whole gallery and it is therefore seldom shown and little known. Requiem comes to mind as I think about Sum of it’s parts, as do a number of other large scale art works by Briant that touched upon early European perspectives of Australian flora and fauna. During the 1990s these inquiries naturally extended to landscape, formal gardens and topiary. In each case, the final art work comprised many parts that were connected by variations of the grid. Likewise, in Sum of its parts Briant establishes an apparent order from retrieved objects. However, here she has drawn directly from her own world, collecting things near-at-hand to make smaller, more intimate pieces. Just as poetic verses are usually written with a similar rhythm, Briant has created visual patterns based on observed associations between hundreds of found objects. Throughout Sum of it’s parts, items that have crept into her life such as conkers, plastic toy animals, shells, linoleum scraps, and bottle caps are organized with meticulously observed detail. On the canvas titled Stanza no. 3 a yellow plastic lobster is placed between a yellow cable tie and a pair of tweezers that are in turn positioned beside a forked twig, a hair clip, and so on. It’s an artist’s map, tracking thoughts and things. While it is clear that each object, and each art work, are the ‘parts’ of an equation, one is left wondering whether Briant intends the ‘sum’ to be the exhibition, the artist’s life, or the world at large. All are relevant. Stanzas no. 8 and 9 are arranged with a precision likened to ikebana. Although rather than flowers in vases, Briant has placed bent pipe-cleaners, wires, seed pods, plastic rings, and spoons in cotton reels, glass bottles and plastic containers. They demonstrate her finely-tuned grasp of texture, shape, line and form. Furthering the interest in dualities, for Stanzas no. 4, 5, and 6 Briant has used pencil to fill-in the shadows of the small objects that have been fixed to paper.
These drawings demanded that she return to the same sunny place at the same time, day-in, day-out, to capture the identical angle of the shadows. In pencil, the shadows appear as strange, distorted reminders that nothing exists in isolation. During a career spanning more than three decades, Briant’s works have been characterized by conundrums. Most often, they are forensic yet poetic, organic yet ordered, and dependent on the even balance between intuition and deliberation. Like Requiem, the choreographed objects in Sum of it’s parts are a reminder that one thing does not exist without the other. While in the past Briant has drawn inspiration from historical phenomena, Sum of it’s parts is informed entirely by her immediate world. With this comes a meditative focus on minutiae and the process of making order, or sense, from life itself. Like the greatest poets, the questions she poses are without answers. It is the process of questioning - the doing, the focusing, the observing - that matters most. Jane Stewart, Principal Curator, Art, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Stanza no. 2 - portrait of Lady Jayne 2015 found objects and drawing on paper on canvas behind perspex 61 x 50.5 x 4 cm $2,000
Stanza no. 1 2015 beaded fabric, paper, pen, plastic objects on canvas behind perspex 61 x 50.5 x 3 cm $2,000
Stanza no. 3 2015 found objects on canvas behind perspex 92 x 92 x cm $3,000
Stanza no. 4, kindred spirits 2015 found objects and drawing on canvas behind perspex 61 x 50.5 x 4 cm $2,000
Stanza no. 5, shadowplay 1 2015 found objects and drawing on paper on canvas behind perspex 61 x 50.5 x 4 cm $2,000
Stanza no. 6, shadowplay 2 2015 found objects and drawing on paper on canvas behind perspex 93 x 93 x 9 cm $3,000
Stanza no. 7 2015 found object sculpture in perspex cabinet 60 x 60 x 7 cm $2,500
Stanza no. 8 2015 found object sculptures on perspex shelf 21.5 x 50 x 12 cm $650
Stanza no. 9, stack 2015 found object sculptures on wooden shelf 31.5 x 90 x 10.2 cm $1,250
Stanza no. 10 2015 wire, plastic reels, wooden box 25 x 25 x 4 cm $450
Stanza no. 11, thinking of China 2015 found cardboard box and mirror 22 x 22 x 7 cm $350
Stanza no. 12 Fire and Light 2015 found objects and wooden shelf dimensions variable $3,500
IRENE BRIANT Curriculum vitae 2015 Education 2007
PhD, University of Tasmania, Hobart
1995
Bachelor of Fine Art, Honours, University of Tasmania, Hobart
1983
Bachelor of Fine Art, University of Tasmania, Hobart
1973
Diploma of Art Teaching, Tasmanian School of Art, T C A E, Hobart
1972
Diploma of Fine Art, Tasmanian School of Art, T C A E, Hobart
Solo Exhibitions 2015
Sum of Its Parts, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2013
Collected Pieces, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2009
Lost, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2007
Resplendent, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania
2005
Fold, Twist and Pleat, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2003
Re-form, Judith Pugh Gallery, Mt Macedon, Victoria Trans-form, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2000
The Same Sky, CAST Gallery, Hobart
1998
Landmarks and Curiosities, AGOG, Canberra and Canberra Botanic Gardens
1997
Landmarks, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
1996
Imagining Paradise, AGOG, Canberra
1995
A Long Way from Babylon, Bond Store, Tas Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart A Long Way from Babylon, Macquarie Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
1993
Order Australis, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
1989
Plots for Expansion, Despard Street Gallery, Hobart
1986
The Sun and the Rain, Chameleon Contemporary Art Space, Hobart
Selected Group Exhibitions 2015
Exquisite, Schoolhouse Gallery, Rosny, Tasmania Exquisite, Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart
2013
Poets and Painters, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2012
In / Out / In / Between, 146 Artspace, Hobart A Measure of Things, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart
2011
Eclectica 1, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2010
Still Life – Still Thinking, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2010
Trajectories, Long Gallery, Hobart
2009 - 2010
Returning, Rosny Barn, Rosny, Tasmania & venues in Tasmania, Victoria and NSW
2004
Atelier, Australian Artists in Paris 1980 – 2000, Plimsoll Gallery, Uni of Tas, Hobart Interpreting 2004, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Skin, Salamanca Arts Centre Inc. exhibition, Long Gallery, Hobart
2003
From the Scape, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne ART / History, Woolmers, Longford, Tasmania for 10 Days on the Island festival
2002 - 2004
Tamworth Textile Biennial, Tamworth City Gallery and touring nationally
2002
Mount Wellington Festival Sculpture Trail, Hobart
2001
Home is Where the Heart Is, Art Museum, Uni. of SA, and other venues in SA Sculpture by the Sea, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania Response to the Island, Long Gallery, Hobart
2000
Art and Land, Contemporary Australian Visions, Asialink Touring Exhibition, venues in Thailand, The Philippines, and Singapore
1999
TMAG Commissions Exhibition, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Hybrid Creatures, Uni of Tas / CAST Touring Exhibition, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart
1997
Mapping the Comfort Zone, Artspace, Festival Centre, Adelaide
1991
Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Awards and Grants 2010
Artist in Residence, Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, Victoria
2005
Temporary Research Assistant, Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, London Australian Postgraduate Award to undertake PhD studies
2002
Ephemeral Installation, Arts Tasmania, Stoney / Domaine A Vineyard
2001
Reclining Tree, Landcare Sculpture Project, Penna, Tasmania
1998
Project Grant, Paris Residency, Australia Council Acquisitions Commission, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
1996
Project Grant, Visual Arts Board, Australia Council Artist in Residence, Canberra School of Art, Canberra
1991
Outdoor Sculpture, Telecom Australia, Hobart
Collections Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Parliament House, Canberra Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra Artbank, Sydney Private collections in Australia and Overseas
Detail: Heartland 2014
Bibliography 2013
Dr Deborah Malor, Collected Pieces, exhibition essay, Bett Gallery website Clyde Selby, Living up to Great Expectations, The Mercury, Hobart, April 27 th
2012
Clyde Selby, A measure of things, The Mercury, May 12th Helen Maxwell, a measure of things, catalogue essay, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart
2009
Sean Kelly, Lost, Catalogue essay, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart
2005
Sarah Scott, Fold, Twist and Pleat, Catalogue essay, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2004
Julie Gough, Skin, Catalogue essay, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart Jonathan Holmes, Atelier, Catalogue essay, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart Maria Kunda, Aragorn, Catalogue, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart
2002
Sonia Barron, The Nature of Civilisation, Canberra Times, July 24 Jennifer Livett, Trans-form, Catalogue Essay
2000
Jennifer Livett, The Same Sky, Artlink, Vol 20 no 2, July
2000
Jennifer Livett, The Same Sky, Catalogue Essay, CAST, Hobart, March
1999
David Hansen, The TMAG Commissions1998, Artlink, Vol 19 no1, March
1998
Llewellyn Negrin, Landmarks and Curiosities, Art and Australia, Vol 36 no 2 Barbara Holloway, Landmarks and Curiosities, Muse, June Sonia Barron, Landmarks and Curiosities, Canberra Times, April 25
1997
Cath Kenneally, Post Colonial Dreaming, Artlink, Vol 17 no 3 Victoria Hammond, Irene Briant : The Artist and the Sun King, Island 70, Autumn
1996
Sonia Barron, Imaginative Uses for Wire Mesh, Canberra Times, June 7
1995
Elizabeth Day, Looking Back at Tasmania Looking Forward, Periphery, University of New England, no 25 Clare Rice, A Cultural Espalier, Catalogue Essay, CAST, Hobart
1994
Lorraine Hepburn, Far Beyond First Impressions, Artlink, Vol 14 no 1
1993
Jennifer Livett, Order Australis, Dick Bett Gallery Newsletter, no 16, July
1992
Chris Downie, Gateways Project, Artlink, Vol 11 no 4
1991
Victoria Lynn, Perspecta 1991, Catalogue introduction, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Sarah Day, Perspecta 1991, Catalogue essay, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 3-D Focus Put into Perspective, The Australian, 17 August Peter Hill, Queuing to get into the Future, The Age, Melbourne, 17 August