Susan Flavell
Susan Flavell employs magical thinking as a political strategy against climate apocalypse. Her art practice reveals notions of the fantastic, the monstrous and the mythical, applying a range of material strategies to create compelling sculptural forms.
Driven by a fundamental commitment to the use of recycled materials, Flavell’s work interrogates accepted hierarchies of material value. Everything in the exhibition, wherever possible, will be recycled. Seven years in the making, Flavell’s Horn of the Moon is a beautiful and frightening carnival: a Day of the Dead procession, a celebration, a call to arms. Like a shelter housing mythical beasts and animate detritus, washed up on an apocalyptic tide, the darkened Gallery spaces are overwhelmed with objects that are revealed through shimmering spotlights.
Flavell’s work has been showcased in notable exhibitions, most recently, Storm the Gods & Shake the Universe, FORM Gallery (2023), Golden Flowers, Art Collective (2018), The Horn of the Moon, John Curtin Gallery (2017), The Dog’s Artist, Fremantle Arts Centre (2016), An Internal Difficulty, PICA & AOTM (2015) and Freud’s Desk, Turner Galleries (2013). She was the recipient of the prestigious Mark Howlett Foundation Commission (#14) and has undertaken a number of public art commissions. Flavell has been selected for international residencies including the Basel Exchange in Switzerland, The Pottery Workshop in Jindezhen, China, and the Freud Museum in London.
Delving into realms of myth, objects, nature, and animals, Flavell invites viewers to contemplate the mystical and otherworldly. Through her use of recycled materials and her exploration of magical thinking, she challenges us to reconsider our relationship with the world around us. Flavell’s art speaks to our collective connection to the environment and the importance of sustainable practices. Her extensive artistic journey, commitment to her craft and teaching history have established her as a prominent figure in the Western Australian art world.
As part of Perth Festival 2024, John Curtin Gallery presented two exhibitions – Yankunytjatjara artist Robert Fielding’s Kinara munu Tjintu [Moon and Sun] and Walyalup-based artist Susan Flavell’s Horn of the Moon. As artists deeply embedded in their practice, their making is physical, connecting to a range of material processes that come from a commitment to the places they live and work.
While using different methods both artists lovingly reclaim detritus to create new forms, establishing harmony between old and new, natural and synthetic. The storytelling process that underpins each artists’ practice evokes cycles of nature and legends of the Divine, calling us to witness their gothic road trip between Earth, Moon and Sun.
Opened: Thu 8 Feb 6pm
Exhibition: Fri 9 Feb – Sun 14 Apr
Supported by: Perth Festival, Wesfarmers Arts, Lotterywest
Header Image: Susan Flavell, Horn of the Moon – 13 Goddesses (there are no museums at the end of the world) installation view. Photo by Dan McCabe
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