Organic and inorganic materials, folkloric traditions and contemporary culture came together in Nathan Gray’s ‘paper sculpture’ work. Assemblages of collaged, marbled and screen printed paper were reintegrated back into works containing found objects, and mounted as dynamic sculptural growths. Amalgamating elements of synthetic and natural worlds, Gray is influenced by plant and animal forms, as well as the man-made structures of makeshift shanty-towns, shrines, the psychedelic aesthetic and the hippy movement.
At once fragile and exuberant, Gray’s creations are not simple growths, but rather a series of complex and intuitive decisions that are in constant evolution. Often starting out as a screen print, the work may then be cut up, collaged, given a sculptural treatment or pierced by cocktail skewers to give it form. It emerges from an investigation in paper into growths that peel away from the walls, floor and ceiling to produce a sense of live ornamentation.
Commissioning Curator: Juliana Engberg
In the Press
16 December, Sunday Herald Sun, Fancy that
1 January, Herald Sun, A colourful Gray
25 January, The Age, Ephemera, ephemera
