Steel Lives
Jin ah Jo & Inari Kiuru, A Steel Life, 2017, April 2017, Two objects: Brooch 50x30x15mm and rusted vessel: 150x130x130mm, mild steel, powder coated mild steel, silver, recycled tin and steel.
Photo: Inari Kiuru |
Map reference number: 54
No Vacancy QV
34–40 Jane Bell St Melbourne 22 August – 3 September
Tue 11am–6pm, Wed–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 11am–5pm, Sun 12–5pm Opening: Thu 31 August, 6–8pm
Artist/s: Inari Kiuru & Jin Ah Jo
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Steel Lives presents jewellery and objects by Jin ah Jo (South Korea/Australia) and Inari Kiuru (Finland/Australia). Jo and Kiuru–makers, mothers and migrants born in the same month of the same year–are also drawn together by their love of the same material. The title Steel Lives refers to the artists’ shared life experiences and to the exhibition design playing with the idea of still life.
For Jo and Kiuru steel is a highly symbolic, personal and ceaselessly potent medium. By bringing together their versatile conceptual and technical approaches, they illuminate the astonishing emotional and material ranges this industrial, often unpredictable metal holds. Closely juxtaposing two individual expressions on one material while placing two different bodies of work into intimate contact, Steel Lives purposefully creates tension and invites the viewer to make unexpected connections.
For Jo and Kiuru steel is a highly symbolic, personal and ceaselessly potent medium. By bringing together their versatile conceptual and technical approaches, they illuminate the astonishing emotional and material ranges this industrial, often unpredictable metal holds. Closely juxtaposing two individual expressions on one material while placing two different bodies of work into intimate contact, Steel Lives purposefully creates tension and invites the viewer to make unexpected connections.
a. Jin ah Jo, Black honeycomb lid (back). 2017. Mild steel, nickel silver, recycled tin and nylon. 80x80x15mm. Photo: Jin ah Jo
b. Inari Kiuru, Blink, 2017, mild steel, enamel, pigment, wax, human ashes. 200x200x210mm. Photo: Inari Kiuru
b. Inari Kiuru, Blink, 2017, mild steel, enamel, pigment, wax, human ashes. 200x200x210mm. Photo: Inari Kiuru
About the Artist
Inari Kiuru is a Finnish-born artist, designer and gardener. Drawing from her native relationship with strong seasonal changes, her recent work has focused on observing light. Using industrial materials such as concrete, glass and steel to portray changing atmospheres within the urban landscape, Kiuru's work encompasses wearable jewellery, objects, images and mixed media installation. She also researches and works with air-purifying plants, building installations and indoor landscapes. Inari graduated from RMIT Fine Art (Object Based Practice) in 2013 and has exhibited in curated group shows in Australia, Europe and the US. She’s represented by Gallery Funaki, Melbourne.
Jin Ah Jo is a contemporary jewellery artist living and working in Melbourne, Australia. For her making jewellery is about creating wearable unpredicted forms. Jin Ah's process leverages her cross-cultural experiences of being born in Korea and studying, living and working in Germany and Australia. She emigrated from South Korea to Australia in 2000 and finished a Masters of Fine Art at Monash University in 2008 including studies at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf, in Germany in 2006. In 2015 she participated in LOOT at Museum of Arts and Design in NYC and had a solo show, 'Ohmaebulmang' at egetal in 2016.
Inari Kiuru is a Finnish-born artist, designer and gardener. Drawing from her native relationship with strong seasonal changes, her recent work has focused on observing light. Using industrial materials such as concrete, glass and steel to portray changing atmospheres within the urban landscape, Kiuru's work encompasses wearable jewellery, objects, images and mixed media installation. She also researches and works with air-purifying plants, building installations and indoor landscapes. Inari graduated from RMIT Fine Art (Object Based Practice) in 2013 and has exhibited in curated group shows in Australia, Europe and the US. She’s represented by Gallery Funaki, Melbourne.
Jin Ah Jo is a contemporary jewellery artist living and working in Melbourne, Australia. For her making jewellery is about creating wearable unpredicted forms. Jin Ah's process leverages her cross-cultural experiences of being born in Korea and studying, living and working in Germany and Australia. She emigrated from South Korea to Australia in 2000 and finished a Masters of Fine Art at Monash University in 2008 including studies at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf, in Germany in 2006. In 2015 she participated in LOOT at Museum of Arts and Design in NYC and had a solo show, 'Ohmaebulmang' at egetal in 2016.
