6 – 25 November 2014
about the exhibition
Denese Oates is a Sydney-based sculptor who has been exhibiting for over thirty years. In previous exhibitions, her sculptures were often a mass of intertwined copper wires fashioned into abstracted organic forms, each piece beautifully constructed and created with a symmetry of its own. Other works have demonstrated Denese’sinterest in nature on a minute scale, schematically mapping out human and botanical vascular systems that resembled strange organic forms transplanted from a mysterious landscape. In her new works, she incorporates pre-existing objects, particularly books, building her copper structures around and upon them. She cleverly combines the botanical forms with novel ideas around what the inner confines of a book holds, and how these secrets and lies, facts and ideas, mysteries and propositions can be synonymous with the visual representation of growth.As Denese explains, these sculptures“emerge from the books represent the contents bursting out into the light and air, energy escaping from the binds of the book and information sprouting, reaching and spreading”.Having worked with the malleable potential of paper in her earlier career, Denese now uses metal, in particular copper to form her abstract creations. Her choice of metal as the preferred medium creates a dichotomy between the durability of her pieces and the transient and fragile subject matter that she depicts.
Born in Orange in the central west of NSW, Denese moved to Sydney to study at the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education in Sydney, (now College of Fine Art, UNSW). Denese has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationwide and her work is represented in many collections including Parliament House, Artbank, University of New South Wales, Christchurch City Collection (NZ) and many Australian regional galleries. This is Denese’s ninth solo exhibition with Beaver Galleries.
