Tally-Ho – A Father & Daughter’s Exhibition
MADELEINE BEECH:
Madeleine Beech is a multi-disciplinary West Australian based artist and maker. Madeleine’s practice is driven by an ‘intuitive making’ approach with an interest in material response, process, experimentation, play and the transformation of found objects and materials. Beech completed an Associate Degree of Visual Arts at North Metropolitan TAFE in 2017 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Curtin University in 2018.
Madeleine Beech’s work exists as a sculptural assemblage of elemental forms. Classified, ordered and positioned next to each other, they emerge as artifacts. They read as precious things akin to an historical relic in a museum. She selects objects for their formal ambiguity because their original use can be obscured/transformed and understood as something new. Found objects, wooden objects and other material findings are specifically chosen for their form, tone, texture, and patina.
She intends to evoke the embedded time and sentimentality that exist in the objects whilst processes allow for an opportunity of transformation and moment for personal play. This gives an object new meaning while nurturing the past and history through remodelling.
NICK BEECH:
Nick Beech is a West Australian stonemason by trade and has been for more than 35 years, he has drilled in the desert and enjoys experimenting with wood and metal work. He started making art when his best friend Fred Mehta said: “You should do art, you have the skills, you don’t need to study”. From then on, he began making art and surprised himself: “I have heaps of fun“.
Nick Beech brings wood, steel, kilned glass and stone together as one. He is constantly searching and collecting for materials so that he has them available when he needs them while working. The process starts with welding the framework (skeletons) then slowly rolling and hammering copper, pop riveting the sculpture together and finally adding more pieces to make it complete.
He tries to keep it simple and is intrigued by Trench Art. All the artworks he creates are to do with the ocean because that is where he grew up, with his experience being in the desert for so long and hunting for every pool of water. ”I find I feel fully complete when I am near the ocean hence the oceanic themes”. His artworks are built to stand the test of time.
TOGETHER:
Eccentric, eclectic and free-spirited individuals, they created a dwelling that is filled to the brim with found objects, artefacts and antiques. They both have a knack for mixing things that don’t go together but somehow make it work with integrity and intuition.
This show is about the bond they share finding an object or a material and the possibilities that come with it: observing, creating and making as father and daughter. For two decades they have shared and found beauty in everyday objects, they restore and reinvent discarded objects giving them a new lease of life while honouring and protecting their past.
They want to keep and protect our history ‘we work with old shit’.
Both Beech’s practice is deeply informed by this innate understanding of place and connectedness to immediate surroundings. They evoke embedded time and sentimentality of the objects whilst allowing for an opportunity of transformation and a moment of personal playfulness. This gives the object a new meaning while continuing to nurture its past history.
