Catherine Bell The Remains of the Day

28 June –
26 July 2014

Sutton Gallery is pleased to present The Remains of the Day, an exhibition of sculptural and print works by Melbourne-based artist Catherine Bell.

For The Remains of the Day, Bell presents a series of sculptural carvings that take the form of mountains to create a landscape of mourning. Carved from green florist’s Oasis foam, the sculptures recall the function of their material, which prolongs the life of flowers, a motif commonly associated with the fragility of life. Inherently scarred with the physical traces of its occupation, Bell repurposes the material to reincarnate it with new life whilst preserving its history.

Accompanying the sculptural carvings is a series of prints, which inherit their imagery from both the top and bottom surfaces of the sculptures. Displayed in pairs to frame the mountain sculptures, the prints act as a record and imbue a sense of memorial, echoing the rituals of remembrance when faced with the impermanence of life.

“Catherine Bell is an artist who inserts her work into the breach between desire and death, hope and mourning. As an artist, she asks, What remains? and from her perception of the life of these remains she fashions an ephemeral sense of presence.” Caroline Durré

Bell graduated with both a BA in art history and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Sculpture) in Queensland before completing a PhD at Monash University in 2008, when she was awarded the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal for the best doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Art and Design. Alongside regular exhibitions at Sutton Gallery since 1994, Bell has presented many solo exhibitions including The Gathering, Substation, Melbourne, 2013; This little piggy…fades to pink, Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2012; Waste not Want not, Death be Kind, Melbourne 2011; Love and Other Bruises, Monash Faculty Gallery, Melbourne, 2007; and Felt is the Past Tense of Feel, Galapagas Art Space, New York, USA, 2007.

Selected group exhibitions include: New photography from the Footpath, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, 2013; The ‘F’ Word, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, 2013; Found, Magdalene Laundries, Abbottsford Convent, Melbourne, 2013; Backflip: Feminism and humour in contemporary art, VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, 2013; The Animal Gaze, Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield, 2011; Seminário Internacional Arte e Natureza, Matilha Cultural, Sao Paulo, 2011; What’s yours is mine, Linden – Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2011; Selectively Revealed, an international touring exhibition presented by Experimenta Media Arts & Asialink: Aram Art Gallery, Seoul, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Chulalongkorn University Art Space, Bangkok, 2011-12 and Becoming Animal – Becoming Human, NGBK, Berlin, Germany, 2009. Bell’s work is held in many public collections including National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Artist’s profile
The Remains of the Day
Catherine Bell

The Remains of the Day

, 2014
Installation view, Sutton Gallery
The Remains of the Day
Catherine Bell

The Remains of the Day

, 2014
Installation view, Sutton Gallery

Enquire

Subscribe