Bielander/Britton/Minegishi
David Bielander, Cardboard (heart), 2015, 9x8x2cm approx,18k gold, white gold, Photo: Dirk Eisel
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Map reference number: 06
PROJECT SPACE
RMIT University Building 94, Lvl 2, Rm 1 Carlton 25 August – 28 September
Wed–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat–Sun 12–4pm Opening: Thu 24 August, 5–7pm
Artist/s: David Bielander, Helen Britton & Yutaka Minegishi
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Gallery Funaki, in collaboration with RMIT, showcases the work of David Bielander (Switzerland), Helen Britton (Australia) and Yutaka Minegishi (Japan). These internationally respected artists studied together at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, one of the world’s most diverse, respected academies for art. In 2002, they set up a joint studio from which each has developed a highly regarded international practice. Though each has an entirely distinct visual language, they have exhibited as a group on several occasions, drawing together their disparate approaches to a cohesive presentation marked by a highly crafted, innovative approach to materials and rigor of personal research.
a. Helen Britton, Cat, 2016, silver, paint, photo courtesy of the artist
b. Yutaka Minegishi, Ring, 2015, agate, 4x3x3cm approx, photo courtesy of the artist
b. Yutaka Minegishi, Ring, 2015, agate, 4x3x3cm approx, photo courtesy of the artist
About the Artist
David Bielander worked as an apprentice goldsmith in Basel and worked for the industrial designer and jewellery maker Georg Spreng before studying under professor Otto Künzli at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. In 2006 he became the Artistic Assistant to Professor Daniel Kruger at the Academy of Fine Arts Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany and in 2011, an external consultant to the jewellery department at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Bielander takes the familiarity of everyday objects and combines them with a witty abstraction to create truly uncanny pieces of wearable art. His work has seen him win numerous awards including the Herbert Hoffmann Prize in 2010 and the Francoise van den Bosch Award in 2012. His work is held in many public collections including the Fond National des Arts Contemporain, France, the CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Neue Sammlung, Munich and the National Gallery of Victoria.
Helen Britton completed a Master of Fine Arts by research at Curtin University, Western Australia and postgraduate study at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Helen’s work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, in the Pinakothek der Modern, Munich, the Schmuck Museum Pforzheim, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Boston Museum of Fine Art and The Metropolitan Museum, New York, among others. Helen has received the Herbert Hofmann Prize, the state prize of Bavaria, the Förder Preis of the city of Munich, and in 2014 was artist in residence at Villa Bengel in Idar Öbersten. She was Artist in Residence in 2015 at the invitation of Janet Holmes á Court at Vasse Felix in Western Australia. In 2017 the Lawrence Wilson gallery at UWA in conjunction with the Festival of Perth will present an overview of Helen’s practice to date.
Yutaka Minegeishi studied metal craft at Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry in Tokyo before moving to Germany in 1995. He completed his Diploma in 2003 under the tutelage of Professor Otto Künzli and has since held solo exhibitions in Munich and Tokyo, as well as participating in many international group exhibitions. A large part of Minegishi’s practice is his hand carving from single blocks of material. In 2013 he exhibited his works in ebony, mammoth ivory and rose ivory amongst other materials in his first Australian solo show, Mainly Twisted at Gallery Funaki. His work was also included in Unexpected Pleasures at the NGV in Melbourne and the London Design Museum in 2012, and can be found in the permanent collections of the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Museum Ceskeho Raje, Czech Republic and the Stichting Francoise van den Bosch, Amstelveen. He won the Munich Art Prize in 2016.
