For Melbourne-based artist Belinda Fox, a home is not just the materials it’s made from; it’s deeply connected to the people who live there.
To illustrate this, Fox invited artists from Australia and abroad—including Glenn Barkley, Juan Ford and Leila Jeffreys, among many others—to contribute an artwork she could respond to, requesting each reflect on what home means to them. “All of the artists are either long-term friends and collaborators, or artists I greatly admire and have had opportunities to work with,” Fox explains. “They are all people I regard as part of my sense of self and home.”
In addition to creating a collection of new paintings, Fox constructed the centrepiece of the exhibition—a 20-metre-long wall print based on a drawing of a giant orange wave. Fox says the dominating presence of the wave, “represents the worries and anxiety of the times” and “acknowledges home for many is not all smooth sailing”.
A further collaboration between Fox and Dutch designer-maker, Wilfred Kalf, has resulted in a sculptural cabinet based on the choultry (a resting place for travellers often connected to a temple) and the travelling suitcase. “The cabinet is displayed under my painting of an old pear tree that stands outside Wilfred’s studio in the countryside of The Netherlands,” says Fox. “It’s like I am bringing a piece of where the cabinet was made into my studio, relocating it to its home here in Australia.”
With the included artists working across photography, textile design and illustration, Fox has brought together an affecting and bittersweet exhibition unpicking the complexities of what constitutes home. “To invite these artists is to bring them into my world and show them how they factor into my sense of place. Not only does place involve my deep affiliation with nature, but also the people who become part of that journey, who inspire you to be a better artist and person.”
and the little things
Belinda Fox
Arthouse Gallery
25 July—10 August
This article was originally published in the July/August 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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