Rose Skinner knows all about other worlds. Since hitting the Perth art scene with her distinct, lysergic candy coloured installations, Skinner has garnered a reputation as someone who consistently delves into the beyond, constructing moments plucked from some obscure landscape at the edge of imagination.
This year the Awesome Festival sees this bright young thing once again create not one but two dioramas unique to her vision. At The Blue Room, Skinner presents the crux of her work, Llamaland. Over in Forrest Chase she’ll present ‘…and they came from Llamaland’, a insight into the creatures that inhabit her wild imaginings.
‘Llamaland is an adventure into an alternate reality,’ Skinner said of her new work. ‘Both Dr Seuss and Lewis Carroll created fantastical nonsensical worlds where nonsense reigned freely. Llamaland was developed with these virtues in mind. I see it as an escape from the mundane into a world where anything can happen. ‘
The result is an installation that participants – both young and old – can experience on both a macro and micro level, in both its explicitness and its intricacies. You will become a part of the work as you enter the world. Skinners advice for transpiring this acid-bright realm?
‘Expect the unexpected!’
Over in Forrest Chase and Skinner’s creature manifest as part of Wondersite, a larger installation featuring Minaxi May and Hayley Bahr, lead by Sydney artist Marley Dawson. Nestled into the nooks of this work is Skinner’s ‘…and they came from Llamaland’, a collection of otherworldly beings designed to be held, played with and imbued with that magical quality only children can impart: an imagined life.
‘These experimental artworks can be experienced in a more accessible way without the restrictions that are usually required for the type of installations I create. Children especially find the injustice of not being able to play with any of the many toys used in my creations a challenge, with these works the tacky membrane can be touch and familiar object discovered when under the close inspection with small hands.’
The charm of Skinner’s work lies in the fact that she creates covetable and desirable artwork from refuse and recycled material.
The sheer intensity and colour of her creations has made Skinner highly sought after, her work resonating with a generation who can see the joy in her haphazard fusions of discarded and found objects.
‘We live in a world where mass consumption and throwaway ideologies are becoming more central to our way of life where we choose time and time again the easy option over the right,’ concluded Skinner. ‘These creatures are formed from recycled, reused and reclaimed materials, the waste of a city.’
And from that waste grows the promise of a beautiful new world, one which piques the edges of ours with its colour and vibrancy, luring young and old in to stay and play. That world is Llamaland.
Llamaland plus ‘…and they came from Llamaland’ both run from November 22 as part of Awesome. www.awesomearts.com
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
