SCULPTURE
SCULPTURE
PAINT & INK
PAINT & INK
PAINT & INK
CV
CV
CV
THE NATURE OF WANTING - ARTIST STATEMENT
‘The Nature of Wanting’ is a body of work that addresses the unsustainable consumption of the human race. As a species people continuously process resources of social, environmental and economic value with little regard for the future. Materials are extracted, refined and transformed into fleeting 'objects of desire'. Though a face-paced lifestyle only encourages a focus on the final product, their consumers have become detached from the process that created them. Resulting in a reduced appreciation between these 'objects of desire' and the methods used to create them. A disassociation that contributes to a wasteful attitude towards both labour and environmental resources.
This exhibition explores human body as a machine that seeks out and consumes through unsustainable resource gathering processes. Representing all 'objects of desire' is a small stepped pyramid that appears in several of the works. Whether through representation or suggestion, human presence provides context and narrative for this pyramid to generate discussion of humanity’s consumption habits.
THE NATURE OF WANTING - ARTIST STATEMENT
‘The Nature of Wanting’ is a body of work that addresses the unsustainable consumption of the human race. As a species people continuously process resources of social, environmental and economic value with little regard for the future. Materials are extracted, refined and transformed into fleeting 'objects of desire'. Though a face-paced lifestyle only encourages a focus on the final product, their consumers have become detached from the process that created them. Resulting in a reduced appreciation between these 'objects of desire' and the methods used to create them. A disassociation that contributes to a wasteful attitude towards both labour and environmental resources.
This exhibition explores human body as a machine that seeks out and consumes through unsustainable resource gathering processes. Representing all 'objects of desire' is a small stepped pyramid that appears in several of the works. Whether through representation or suggestion, human presence provides context and narrative for this pyramid to generate discussion of humanity’s consumption habits.
THE NATURE OF WANTING - ARTIST STATEMENT
‘The Nature of Wanting’ is a body of work that addresses the unsustainable consumption of the human race. As a species people continuously process resources of social, environmental and economic value with little regard for the future. Materials are extracted, refined and transformed into fleeting 'objects of desire'. Though a face-paced lifestyle only encourages a focus on the final product, their consumers have become detached from the process that created them. Resulting in a reduced appreciation between these 'objects of desire' and the methods used to create them. A disassociation that contributes to a wasteful attitude towards both labour and environmental resources.
This exhibition explores human body as a machine that seeks out and consumes through unsustainable resource gathering processes. Representing all 'objects of desire' is a small stepped pyramid that appears in several of the works. Whether through representation or suggestion, human presence provides context and narrative for this pyramid to generate discussion of humanity’s consumption habits.
Harrison Waed See
(IN)VULNERABLE
EXHIBITED AT FRINGE WORLD FESTIVAL (COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION: POLOPHONY) @ GALLERY 25 (EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY, WA)
HARRISON WAED SEE (VISUAL ARTIST)
BRAD NISBET (VIRTUAL REALITY)
DECLAN BROOKS-CREW (CRIMINOLOGY)
This artwork represents a convergence between visual art, criminology, and media studies touching on masculinity and hero culture within paramilitary structures. Specifically with a focus on police, this interdisciplinary installation analogises the ideals symbolised by the heroic brotherhoods of European knights, experimenting with juxtapositions of expectations and realities within contemporary policing culture. Through augmented reality, a dialogue between stoic protector and vulnerable public servant reveals itself. This plays on the timeless, but problematic dynamic between protector and protected—between police officers and civilians—as one group ideally shields the other against the dangers of the world. A dynamic that absorbs its elite members into the ideals of a greater cause while relinquishing the nuances of individuality behind a symbolic uniform; individuality absorbed into the crude meta-narrative of good vs evil. An enduring narrative within European legend where valiant knights are subverted by temptation, greed or betrayal; a duality between the ideals of a group and the inherent vulnerability of the individual. A duality reflected in the imposing stature of the installation’s figures and the materials used in their construction.
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARNIE RICHARDSON 2021
Harrison Waed See, Brad Nisbet, & Declan Brooks-Crew, 2021 (in Karali et al., 2021), IN_ VULNERABLE, cardboard, acrylic paint, wood, cast iron weights and augmented reality (AR) smart device, dimensions variable.
INTERMISSION
COLLABORATIVE PAINTING PERFORMANCE (2020) @ YAGAN SQUARE (TODAY IN MY LIFE PROJECT) PERTH, WA)
While maintaining social distancing, contemporary painters Harrison Waed See and Desmond Mah collaborate together creating a large impromptu painting. During this time-lapsed performative painting session Mah and See both draw on cultural iconography as they apply inks, gesso and soy sauce, reworking their own, and each others’ imagery until a conclusion is reached. While painting, the two Perth-based artists improvise a story examining their hybrid cultural identities.
A PLACE WE CALL HOME
COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION @ STALA CONTEMPORARY (WEST PERTH, WA)
AASIYA EVANS, DESMOND MAH, & HARRISON WAED SEE,
Aasiya Evans, Desmond Mah & Harrison See represent three culturally diverse artists working across different multidisciplinary oeuvres of print and paint reflect on complex issues of identity through a range of personal/spiritual, political and social narratives. A collaborative exhibition that explores an inter-cultural and inter-connected approach as they reflect on their experiences of life in Australia. Bringing into question cultural connectivities and divisions that reveal the importance of discourse pertinent to Perth’s divergent cultural, academic and social communities. Themes especially relevant during times of global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supported through funding from the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries (WA).
Harrison See and Desmond Mah, 2020–2021 (in Evans, Mah & See, 2021), The Monsters We Battled,
gesso, ink and soy sauce on loose canvas, 210cm x 410cm