Nicholas Folland is the 2015 feature artist for the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival, having been selected as the 2014 subject of the annual Wakefield Press monograph on South Australian living artists.
On display at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) is work made by Folland over a ten year period alongside works from the AGSA’s collection by Frank Hurley, Narelle Jubelin, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, Colonel William Light, Laith McGregor, Ian North, James Shaw and Benjamin Travers Solly. These works, made predominantly in South Australia, offer a series of parallel tales.
Set against dark walls, the selection of works in this space points to Folland’s interest in maritime encounters, inspired by his own captivating family history (Folland’s ancestors arrived in Holdfast Bay in Adelaide in 1839 after a perilous journey from England). Using domestic crystal ware – decanters, bowls, goblets, tumblers, and vases – Folland crafts maritime environments and scenarios.
The glacial environment is a recurring theme for Folland, signalled at the southern end of this space. The ice-generating sculpture Am I missing something… was made specifically for this exhibition. It introduces ice as one of Folland’s material signatures and an emblem of a climatic extreme. Like glass, it possesses a fragile physicality and potential risk, enabling Folland to communicate the dangers of encounter, whether physical or personal.
The adjoining space to the north introduces the theme of the arid in Folland’s work. Referencing the journeys of key explorers in Australian history, including Charles Sturt and his protégé John McDouall Stuart, who travelled into the country’s interior in search of water and fertile land. Folland transforms the everyday, the overlooked and the no longer fashionable, making material metaphors that speak to our history and identity.
Art Gallery of South Australia
Until 26 January, 2015
Adelaide
Nicholas Folland, installation view
Courtesy the artist, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, and Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Brisbane
