Australia – Artist
Laurie
Oxenford
–
Name artworks
“Unfunctional”
2021, plastic safety chain and acetate frames. The artist uses safety chains usually present in maintenance or safety management systems to render the glasses unwearable, while referencing sunglasses chains. By deconstructing the frame, she plays with functionality revealing one of many unintended possibilities of the object.
Year
2021
“Unfunctional”
Biography
Laurie Oxenford (b.1997) is an early career Australian artist, curator and public art producer. Her adaptable multidisciplinary practice combines a range of contemporary art-making techniques including painting, assemblage, deconstruction and altering recycled industrial materials or found functional objects. She considers how context establishes new dialogues between artworks, space and viewers.
Her work comments on the role of material in art, sustainability and different ways of constructing conceptual meaning. Oxenford explores waste facilities, second-hand outlets and industrial landscapes that offer recycled, functional items such as metal signs, industrial materials, and everyday objects, which direct and become the starting point for her creative process. She explores how the context for these objects affects their meaning and in turn, how they change the space they inhabit. Laurie’s practice incorporates the use of curatorial principles such as how the selection and arrangements of objects contribute to her creative outcomes.
Through referencing the Minimalist, assemblage, Arte Povera and conceptual art movements, Laurie delves into the deconstruction and reconstruction of function, purpose and intention. She is constantly considering the “value” of her materials and then her role as the artist in altering this perception for her audience. Recently she has begun to explore fabrication, mechanical movement and digital elements within her practice.