‘Still Life in Yellow, Steel and Mandarins’ continues Dani Marti’s exploration of the physical, psychological and emotional boundaries around intimacy, sexuality, relationships and the role of the artist. Well-known for creating challenging portraits that delve beyond the surface of human experience, Marti uses unconventional processes and materials to capture the essence of his subject and emotional estates. In this exhibition, he presents a series of ‘still-life’ installations that read like portraits of life.
Stripped of their fabric flesh, mattress frames in ‘Still life in yellow, steel and mandarins’ become skeletons imbued with metaphor. As the fruits embedded in the coils age over time, the changing scent becomes a trace and mnemonic trigger. The exposed grid of springs, juxtaposed against the bright fruits, brings the charged history of the mattresses together with living (and dying) objects.
Alongside this large-scale sculptural installation Marti presents The Story of I am, a new series of intricate hand-woven rope ‘canvases’, as well as the imposing Black Sun (commissioned by the 2016 Perth International Festival) and an emotionally-loaded video installation work, Notes for Bob.
Dani Marti is represented by Arc One Gallery, Melbourne, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney and Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
The University Gallery and Senta Taft-Hendry Museum of Oceanic Art
5 October to 12 November, 2016
New South Wales
Still life in yellow, steel and mandarins (detail), 2016, mixed media
