Aesop Collins Street. Image: Courtesy Melbourne Art Fair.
Visitors to Melbourne Art Fair will have the opportunity to explore art through the senses in a new exhibition within the Art After Hours program.
Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) ambassador Theodore Wohng has collaborated with key Melbourne artists and famed skincare producer Aesop to create The Sketches of Rain as an interactive art experience that mirrors the interplay between people, objects and space.
‘Visitors can touch the traces of language, feel the fragments of thoughts through abstract geometry, and reconfigure spatial relations within the space by interacting with the artworks.
‘When MAF and Aesop approached me to curate the exhibition, I visited the Collins Street store a few times, and watched how the customers interacted with the shop and the space. I had the idea of putting together a show based on the concept of tangibility and tactility,’ he said.
Wohng said the collaboration features Justin Andrews of NKN Galleries, Michelle Hamer of Fehily Contemporary, Heidi Holmes, Madeline Kidd, Shelley Lasica of Anna Schwartz Gallery, and Bridie Lunney.
‘It has been a real pleasure working with the artists. All of them made brand new works for the exhibition and specifically for the store, from a Bauhaus-era, toy-inspired sculptural arrangement to a distinctive perfume resembling the smell of the artist herself.
‘I am thrilled to work together with Aesop and the wonderful people who work there. The title of the exhibition comes from the memory of being touched by the rain [and] nature for the first time when we were children,’ he said.
The Sketches of Rain forms just one of the many events connected to the larger cultural landscape that week during the Fair. ‘I hope the show encourages people to explore more in Melbourne. It is going to be a fabulous week, packed with art-related adventures.
‘An art fair is a line of flight leading to many new horizons. It brings people together through art, beauty and what we love. You will be able to meet many creative minds, and talk to artists from our own time. It is as rewarding and inspiring as sauntering through a petrichoric glade, amidst the sketches of rain,’ said Wohng.
The Melbourne Art Fair will held at the Royal Exhibition Building from 13 to 17 August.
The Sketches of Rain will run from Monday 4 August to Sunday 17 August at Aesop Collins Street from 10am to 5pm.
During Opening Night on 14 August, Aesop will host drinks in celebration of their creative collaboration with Melbourne Art Fair Ambassador Theodore Wohng from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
Visit the Melbourne Art Fair website for further information.
