Miguel Olmo’s mixed-media exhibition, ‘Tomorrows – Yesterdays, Yesterdays – Tomorrows’, currently showing at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery in Sydney, delves into the complexities of time, memory and construction of temporality in relation to the past, present and future.
Based in Western Sydney and originally from Spain, Olmo’s artmaking spans across sculpture, photography, drawing and light installation, influenced by graffiti, street art and constructivism. Despite his multi-disciplinary practice, Olmo trained in time-based art. At the heart of the exhibition is a sculptural installation comprised of 94 wooden forms inspired by the artist’s past and influenced by 90s graffiti and Islamic script, to create an intriguing new visual language – imbued with a past that lives on in the present.
Miguel Olmo, To Stand on the Bones of Our Ancestors. Photograph: Silversalt Photography. Courtesy the artist and Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Sydney
This convergence of past, present and future is explored in the exhibition’s central work. Western Sydney arts writer John E. Dinamarca explains, ‘Made from recycled wood, the sculptures featured in To Stand on the Bones of Our Ancestors are characterised by their weathered, imperfect nature. The tiny chips and wood grain stains that can be seen on the artist’s sculptures imbue each piece with a sense of history that points to their potential past lives – as old pieces of art, furniture, kitchen shelving or fencing. Seeing these marks up close, I was compelled to consider these pieces not just as art objects in the present tense, but as existing within an ongoing continuum of time.’
Miguel Olmo, To Stand on the Bones of Our Ancestors. Photograph: Silversalt Photography. Courtesy the artist and Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Sydney
Corresponding to this work is a series of ‘draft illustrations’ and a collage triptych that convey the notion of transformation. Bright in colour, yet imbued with a similar configuration to the sculptures, the paper collages are also re-imagined and reused – in this instance, junk mail. Together, the two recycled works play with the idea of objects and ephemerality as well as the past lingering in the present.
Miguel Olmo, (un)Solicited. Photograph: Silversalt Photography. Courtesy the artist and Fairfield City Museum and Gallery
Mayor of Fairfield City Frank Carbone says, ‘Miguel’s work… highlights the high calibre of artists who live and work in greater Western Sydney.’
Fairfield City Museum and Gallery
Until 31 March, 2018
Sydney
