LAST FRUITS OF SUMMER ...
Each year since 2007 the third exhibition of the season has always coincided with Dufftown’s Autumn Whisky Festival and as such always marks the wind down of our residency season. However it is rare that the opening denotes such a clearly defined full stop to the year. Even after the September opening it is not uncommon for artists to still be on site for two or three weeks after, sometimes even longer in the case of Rhonda Weppler who returned for an additional months stay in the winter of 2014. This last exhibition provided an opportunity for the two remaining residents Arturo and Krupa to display the results of their summers work and with Arturo due to fly out the following morning and Krupa leaving on the Monday the opening was indeed a clear finish point to the 2015 programme.
The evening enjoyed the same fine late sunshine as the previous two encouraging a good local turn out to see the works and enjoy the cocktails. Inspired by a drink served by the Glenfiddich bar at the Sydney Contemporary a couple of weeks previously, ‘the last fruits of summer’ was a simple concoction of muddled fresh raspberries and a measure of Glenfiddich 12 year old topped up with ginger beer over ice and a splash of crème de cassis. So with drink in hand our guest were able to enjoy the works on display provided they watch where they put their feet with both artists choosing to use the floor as a display area for elements of their presentations.
Arturo’s free formed copper casting had been carefully uplifted form its place of birth at Convalmore and transposed to the gallery with much of dirt and debris that formed its cradle still attached. The smaller droplets of solidified copper meticulously re arranged around the main body of the work. A second floor piece brought together a collection of found objects and along with prints of documenting his intervention at Convalmore, four new photo/drawings in the ongoing series of work entailed ‘Geometry of Collapse’ and a photographic montage on canvas provided the remainder of his presentation.
In the back half of the gallery space Krupa has laid out the fragments of plaster she has collected from Balvenie House. Each piece, now carrying a photographic image, shows the house back in the day when it was home to the Grant family. A collection of documental memories has also been brought together by the artist. Including a transcript from Jeanie Clark, a Dufftown resident who in her younger day had spent some time working at the house for William Grants daughter Meta. There was also a supposed history of the house written some years ago by its last resident Mrs Duncan who rented the house until the mid 1990s. These very personal documents along with a new set of serigraph prints by Krupa were assembled in an old style suitcase, a case of memories.
The final part of her presentation continues the Balvenie house connection, an old fire extinguisher, a wrought iron wall lamp, some decorative fireside tiles, even one of the ringer mechanisms used to summon the housekeeper all salvaged from the house are included in this wall based installation. With the house scheduled for renovation it was fitting that Krupa should have saved a few memories to linger on in her work.
The third residency exhibition runs up till Sunday 11th October