Trevor Fry -Auromatic
Auromatic summons a radiant body of new sculptures by Trevor Fry. In a vibrant
tribulation these works magnetise ceramics’ position in visual art. Fry works at intersections of the ancient and contemporary, inspired by his travels to India and especially to Auroville, a utopian township built near Puducherry,
Tamil Nadu. These out-of-the-ordinary encounters brought the artist to rethink contemporary morphological quandaries, and especially how forms and matter are confluent to our philosophical perceptions.
Auromatic bases etymologically on auro, Hindi for gold, and matikos, Old Greek for alike, which read conjunctively as golden.
The exquisite architecture of Fry’s sculptures is an invitation to a synonymous intimate interiority, counterbalancing intertextually hectic secularity with our individual sacred. In the accompanying series of architectural drawings, he draws metaphors of ruinous metamorphoses of the contemporary art gallery, transgressing galleries’ institutional critique, as a critical futuristic proposition.
Fry’s ontological expressions are mind-opening, meta-relational and chaos- overturning and guide us towards pivotal intersections in a world we share not only on a planetary but also on a cosmic scale. Through his visionary taxied gratitude, he reminds us of humankind’s epic orphic journey, as a deeply social event. It comes then not as a surprise that the artist chooses the paradox of the mirror for his inaugurate destination on the touristic itinerary he proposes to us, reminding us to T. S. Eliot’s writings. Fry’s peculiar choice in his artistic premise prompts us to witness the inner space of the ever-changing world and its history erasing not only tense but also chance. Via this interchangeable reciprocity we gain a glimpse of insight into how future contingent reconciliations may shape.
Looking at his works with closed eyes, vase and flower return to their primordial calmness, as a healing antidote against the a priori interspersion of phenomena. The artist’s meditative, highly time-consuming way of working
differs fundamentally from works made with quick gestures. This culminates in a thunderous beauty inviting us epistemologically, semiotically and semantically to revisit the calmness inherent to activity. He takes us to those colourful lights of fireworks or lightning allowing us to embrace his luminous interpretations of sacred remedial expressivity.
Dr Reto Oechslin
Biography
Trevor Fry has expounded his dangerous visions in many radical eexhibitions for over forty years, in New Zealand, Australia and overseas. His cross-disciplinary art practice encompasses ceramics, sculpture, video, photography, performance, installations, drawing and painting. He completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Sydney (PhD, MA), prior to this graduating from the University of New South Wales (MArt), the Victoria University of Wellington (BA) and the University of Canterbury (Dip. F.A.), and studying Art History at the University of Auckland.
