Recipient of the 2014 McClelland Achievement Prize, the McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery presents a survey exhibition of the work of Sonia Payes in Parallel Futures until 6 November 2016.
A survey of Payes’ work spanning 2007 – 2016 and featuring over 50 works, the exhibition will provide an insight into the evolution of her work from photography through to sculpture, animation and new media, and showcasing the transformation of her 2D imagery into 3D sculptural reality.
Parallel Futures includes the development of her sculptural works, namely the Woman Series, a new body of works that extends the imagery of the four-faced goddess and incarnates her into a metallic warrior.
A strong environmental narrative permeates the exhibition, and the cycle of recreation in a wildly imagined dystopian landscape is explored. Regeneration and rebirth are constant underlying themes. Payes delivers a strong environmental narrative in her work, exploring the tenuous survival of humanity in our rapidly changing environment.
Continuing to contemplate the future of our environment by mirroring the past with the present and portraying a surreal, dystopian glimpse into the future, Payes’ morphing animated landscapes echo an underlying dialogue about the human ability to adapt to naturally and artificially evolving environments.
Sonia Payes is a photographer, new media artist and sculptor. She has had 14 solo exhibitions and been included in over 50 group shows both in Australia and overseas including Shanghai, Auckland, London and Los Angeles.
Her works are held in numerous public, corporate and private collections. Most recently her (MAP) sculpture, ReGeneration was acquired as permanent public art by the City of Melville in Perth. In 2014 Payes was the recipient of the McClelland Achievement Prize (MAP).
The McClelland Achievement Prize (MAP) was established in 2012 and seeks to recognise the contribution of a mid-career artist who has created innovative new forms and is using materials in new ways to convey meaning through form in a manner that has not previously been seen. The MAP prize includes a cash prize of $30,000 and a solo exhibition at McClelland.
Sonia Payes: Parallel Futures
McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, 390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin
Exhibition continues to 6 November 2016
Entry by donation
For more information, visit: www.mcclellandgallery.com for details.
Image: Sonia Payes, Minerva in silver 2016. type C print, metallic paper (edition 1 of 3) 112.7 x 163.0 cm Courtesy of the artist and Fehily Contemporary, Melbourne.