ELKA MAR IS LOST
SOLO EXHIBITION @ CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE, MANUKA
WRITING ON THE GALLERY WALL
Somewhere in a fog between nippers and cyborg gnats, niggly fine wires prickle and pry like a tiny click in the back of the skull. Trails of glits skitter to a small home in her arm. They find themselves in the most comfortable nookholes. Dustmites make homes in her pillow fluff. It is comfortable.
Elka Mar’s grandmother wakes as one liquid eye pops from beneath its tissue shutter. Tired cogs whir beneath the surface of her skin. Bowing rungs of the ladder hiss under her feet as she begins the rhythm. Basement to attic. Attic to Basement. In her dwindling years the aged cyborg is salvaging something from the dark. She performs light-bulb transplants, pushing spiral organs into old sockets. She removes the antique energy with care and gloves so it can remain stored as insect wire and tiny springs sealed in airtight bottles. They are then placed in nesting boxes.
This completes the task.
Slumped in her chair with her chin on her chest, she has succumbed to the dust.
Elka Mar is Lost Exhibition at CCAS.
My Grandmother is a Cyborg, 2010
Silicone, found objects, jewellery wire, oil paint and organza fabric.
25 x 25 x 25 cm
Something Lost for Many Eyes, 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, oil paint, bulbs, jewellery wire.
30 x 20 x 15 cm
Gnat Coggle, 2010
Insects, found metal electronic elements, wooden box, perspex and lights.
50 x 15 x 15 cm
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Gnat Coggle (side view), 2010
Insects, found metal electronic elements, wooden box, perspex and lights.
50 x 15 x 15 cm
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Catching and Eating their Inventions, 2010
Silicone, drafting paper, organza fabric, oil paint, perspex, wooden box, dowel, metal jewellery findings and electrical light elements.
80 x 80 x 30 cm
Photo Credit: Lashi Bandara
Catching and Eating their Inventions II, 2010
Silicone, drafting paper, organza fabric, oil paint, perspex, wooden box, dowel, metal jewellery findings and electrical light elements.
200 x 30 x 40 cm
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Floating to Edge of the World, 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, oil paint, found metal elements and metal jewellery findings.light box: wood, perspex and electrical elements
(fluorescent globes).
30 x 120 x 30 cm (dimensions include the light box).
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Floating to Edge of the World (close-up), 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, oil paint, found metal elements and metal jewellery findings.light box: wood, perspex and electrical elements
(fluorescent globes).
30 x 120 x 30 cm (dimensions include the light box).
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Floating to Edge of the World (detail), 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, oil paint, found metal elements and metal jewellery findings.light box: wood, perspex and electrical elements
(fluorescent globes).
30 x 120 x 30 cm (dimensions include the light box).
Photo Credit: Rob Little
A Glit on the Wire, (detail:an element from a larger work) 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, jewellery wire, oil paint and metal elements.
10 x 5 x 3 cm (dimensions of this element; This work consisted of approximately 20 similar elements).
Photo Credit: Rob Little
Navigating the Stairs, 2010
Silicone, organza, oil paint, wire, jewellery findings and light Box (wood, perspex and electrical elements)
45 x 45 x 20 cm (does not include light box dimensions).
Photo Credit: Rob Little
The Attic Laboratory, 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, drafting paper, oil paint, metal jewellery findings, perspex, found box and electrical light elements (fluorescent).
100 x 40 x 55 cm
Photo Credit: Lashi Bandara
The Attic Laboratory (detail), 2010
Silicone, organza fabric, drafting paper, oil paint, metal jewellery findings, perspex, found box and electrical light elements (fluorescent).
100 x 40 x 55 cm
Photo Credit: Lashi Bandara
Lost in the Old World, (drawing series 1 - 10), 2010
Gouache and pencil on brown paper.
30 x 15 cm each.