Diagram for Rhinoceros, 2014, oil and resin on wood, 30 x 42 cm, courtesy the artist and Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney
Award-winning artist Sam Leach will feature in this year’s Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) Art, Talks and Walks program at the Royal Exhibition Building.
Presented by Sydney gallery Sullivan + Strumpf, Leach joins esteemed art collector Andrew Frost to detail his exhibited works at the Fair while contextualising his broader practice over the last few years. ‘No doubt science fiction will come up, punk rock – who knows?’ he said.
Leach hopes his interest in the relationship between art and science will be a focal point for the conversation. ‘There’s a shared aesthetic between the two fields, looking at modes of representation in scientific theory and scientific papers, and how the laboratory has a dialogue with artistic practice.
‘We’re really stretching all the way back to the 17th century and the history of modernity,’ he said.
During the Fair, Leach will present large multi-panel works that explore animals and constructed landscapes. ‘Overladen with that is hard abstractions, referencing late 20th-century modernism as well as the aesthetics of data visualisation and infographics.
‘Every day we run into the scientific method, and the outcomes of scientific process. The shape of society is really determined by scientific discovery. The other overlay that comes through there is that Andrew and I both have a deep love and interest in science fiction, and that science fiction informs science practice. Contemporary art adds another dimension to that.’
With what he describes as a ‘discursive program to inevitably capture the broad suede of the contemporary art world’, Leach said the Fair is an exciting opportunity to bring his art interstate from Sydney to Melbourne audiences. ‘The event attracts the curators, the collectors and all people interested in art in one weekend into this one function. It’s one of the critical meeting places for contemporary art that occurs every couple of years in this region.’
Leach hopes that guests will come away with a new insight or new way of seeing his work. ‘That’s my particular hope, but apart from that, Andrew is a fascinating person to talk to, and I hope that people should come away perhaps having a very entertaining and very enjoyable time thinking about the visual arts and the way that it reflects our society.
The Art, Talks and Walks program gives visitors the opportunity to tour the Fair with other industry leaders and listen to artists discuss their work.
Sam Leach in conversation with Andrew Frost is presented by Sullivan + Strumpf on Friday 16 August from 6pm to 7pm at the Royal Exhibition Building.
The Melbourne Art Fair runs from 13 to 17 August, 2014. For more information visit the Melbourne Art Fair website.
