Merilyn Fairskye - Plus+Minus

Exhibition: 16 August to 16 September, 2000

Merilyn Fairskye

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PLUS+MINUS comprises two works - 'Sea and Sky' and 'Eye Contact' which both explore the gap between image and experience. The starting point is landscape - of the sky, the sea and the human face. PLUS+MINUS maps contemporary Australia as a site of human ebbs and flows that have created and are constantly transforming it.

'Sea and Sky' features seductive and mesmerising large scale images of sea and sky without horizons. These intense vertical panels of light are presented on lightboxes and video screens creating a visual and visceral response - we see and feel the images. 'Eye Contact' is the culmination of a decade long investigation of the landscape of the face and the way facial features have moral meaning for us. The subjects are instructed to adopt a neutral expression and to close their eyes before being photographed. The resulting images make up a complex, dense social portrait of contemporary Australia. The fact that the subjects have their eyes closed challenges the traditional relationship between subject and viewer and produces a haunting effect.

Merilyn Fairskye is one of Australia's most outstanding contemporary artists. Her work encompasses a wide range of media and methods from public artwork (Sydneysiders will be familiar with her lightbox installation in the tunnel at Railway Square) and video installations to photo based work.

Soundscape by Reach aRound & chit chat von loopin stab, at Audio Sweet. Merilyn Fairskye's work has been assisted by: Greg Ferris at MSV DVM International