Shayla Reynolds

Untitled, 2008

Untitled, 2008

Description

From the artist: "My art incorporates the physicality of body and life forms, conjoining by my process of making, which play with the concept of fragility and the unstable. I have used plaster to cast replicas of the internal and the external of the body. Although its form is not human, representationally speaking, it still shares similarities and bares recognisable traits. These are intended to be a replica, and not the real thing, imbuing it with a sense of the uncanny.

The pieces evolve around the desire of satisfaction for both myself (the artist) and the viewer who interacts with it. I want to encourage the temptation to touch or feel the way through the art but for this to be an ambiguous interaction; it sits between the contradiction between a sensuous engagement of physical touch and physical harm.

Audience interaction fascinates me, particularly how the audience can become the artist and leave a significant presence on the work. Once the pieces are presented in the public domain, the notion of ownership is questioned. My role is to initiate the concept, yet leave the audience, as they have done in past shows, to crush or take away the sculptures. I observe some feel the urge to nurture and protect the fragile object; this is part of the work.

My art is very much process based and I appreciate using materials that deteriorate, and have a temporal quality, changing over a period of time. The materials and work have a tendency to stem from a sensibility centred around 'nature' and 'the natural'. My practice continues to explore the fragility and the transient nature of materials particularly plaster and the fine line, which exists, between creating an object and destroying it."

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