Impermanence

Ruby Aitchison, Untitled, 2014, mild steel, eggplant (left), 
Thomas O’Hara, Untitled, 2014, oregon, stainless steel, nylon (right)

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Upstairs Space, MU Shop

Shop 34, Royal Arcade
335 Bourke St
Melbourne 3000

1-6 September
Tue-Wed 11am-5pm, Thu-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat-Sun 12-5pm

‘Impermanence’ uncovers “a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete … a beauty of things modest and humble … a beauty of things unconventional.” 1
Ruby and Thomas create tactile jewellery and small objects, using natural materials with inherent transient and imperfect tendencies. Their works are rudimentary, irregular, intricate, textured, subtle, individual, and have a quiet authority in their projection of sensory information. 
Their works presented together in ‘Impermanence’ demonstrate the variation of each material and it's ability to change through different processes.

1. Koren, L 1994, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, p.1

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Artists Ruby Aitchison, Thomas O'Hara

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Ruby Aitchison, Untitled, 2014, mild steel, eggplant

Thomas O’Hara, Untitled, 2014, oregon, stainless steel, nylon

About the Artists

Ruby Aitchison lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is currently undergoing a Masters of Fine Art at RMIT. Ruby is interested in the active performance of organic matter when juxtaposed with metal. Her process-based practice initiates a dialogue between materials, and her small objects are a tangible description of the vitality and flux that occurs during the making.
Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally, participating in the Marzee International Graduate Show 2012, Netherlands, and Talente 2013, Munich. More recently she was a selected finalist for Fresh! 2014, where she received the Future Leaders award.
rubyaitchison.com


Thomas O’Hara began studying Gold and Silversmithing at RMIT in 2010.  After completing 3rd year Thomas had work acquired by the RMIT W. E. McMillan Collection and was awarded the Maggie Fairweather Residency for 2013.  In 2014 Thomas went on to do his honours year at RMIT.   Currently Thomas is doing an Emerging Artist Residency at the Australian National University School of Art.  With a trade background as an electrician, Thomas has learnt a controlled systematic way of constructing work, which, combined with a strong interest in organic, free formed patterns and objects found in nature, has led to an investigation of objects that play with what is naturally formed and what is constructed.