Renée Ugazio Renée Ugazio uses metalsmithing and situation specific art practice to explore being in time and place and the nature of material engagement. She does this informed by her original practice as a jeweller. Renée shifts the gesture of polishing out of the studio and into the urban environment. She sees the urban environment as a world of metals in various states of decay, each surface in every corner of the city holding a story of it’s past. In long forgotten alcoves these surfaces rust, but rust in its refined form is also the key ingredient used in the finest jeweller’s polish. She engages with rust to generate many meanings through renewal (polishing) and decay (rusting) as contemplations on time and change. In her recent exhibition at Counihan Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, the Renée collected rust from sites she hand polished external to the gallery and then re-deployed this material into the gallery space. In doing this, Renée explored the materiality of the urban environment and the emergent relationships between the gallery, these sites, process, time and labour. Renée’s interests lie in how the action and trace of polishing “out of context” might stir a contemplative reflection in the viewer. To amplify this she uses a combination of photography, public artwork and installation methods. Her actions and resultant shining surfaces in the laneways of cities encourages those passing by to engage anew in their everyday environment. To perhaps catch a glimpse of these fleeting reflections before the rust re-consumes the materials and reclaims these sites.

Artist Talk | 2015.09.09 (Wed), 13:30 (Multimedia Room)

Work Shop | 2014.09.16 (Wed), 13:30 (Multimedia Room)