Art Blog Review

Months ago in March Stefan Zebrowski-Rubin posted an art review on the artblog about the work of Austrailian artist Melanie Boreham and her show The Departed at Hardware Gallery.  Within the review Zebrowski-Rubin speaks about his first impression of Boreham's show composed mainly of sculptural pieces of human hair.  The article caught my eye for this very reason because I think that the idea of using human hair to make sculptures such as floating trees and jewelry is disturbing yet intriguing.  Although I was not familiar with the young artist at first, I do agree with Zebrowski-Rubin in that she seems to capture a very "poetic essence" in her sculptural pieces.  Zebrowski-Rubin then goes on to talk about how when entering the second room of the exhibit it was filled with Boreham's paintings and drawings (more "multi-media") which almost explain her poetic message that she was trying to convey in her sculptual pieces.  According to Zebrowski-Rubin, Boreham says that her work in this exhibit is about “anxieties of separation and the breakdown of relationships.”  Although Zebrowski-Rubin thinks this is a strong message, he believes that she has overestimated the message that her pieces display, "rationalizes her way too far from the source," and "seems blind" to the energy and strengh of her exhibit. 
            I agree with Zebrowski-Rubin in a sense that the idea of using human hair is "fascinating" because hair is a great deal of who we are and can describe our emotions and personalities because it is "attached to our history."  I also agree with the idea that hair describes culture and religion, hair growth is a cycle (we cut it after it grows slowly), and I think that it is worth mentioning that hair (along with nails) grows after death.  These are the iteams that Zebrowski-Rubin hits on where I do see eye to eye with him because I feel that these messages can been displayed through Boreham's medium choice of hair.  What I do not agree with is that Zebrowski-Rubin points out that the second room of Boreham's work brings it down in a sense.  I think that Zebrowski-Rubin was only trying to show more of her thoughts and give more energy towards the message that she wanted her audience to take from her work.  Also, in my opinion the work did not take away from the messages of her sculpture but added to them by showing the artist's versatility.  I feel that the aritcle may be lacking in organization, but the author was overall able to sum up his ideas and feeling of his exhibit experience.  Zebrowski-Rubin did a good job with describing poetic meaning of hair, but he should have spoke more about what Boreham's thoughts were and what the message was that she wanted to display from her work.
          I have become interested in Boreham's art because of her risk in materials and way of communication through them.  Personally I think that Boreham's exploration and use of materials at such a young age of twenty-two shows that today young artists are still trying new things which is why I think that the artical is relevant and modern.  Her age is also another reason why I can relate to the young artist.  Overall Zebrowski-Rubin did a good job supporting his ideas of her work, but I feel that his criticisms may have been to analyitic.

Melanie Boreham, Forest of the Inside



Melanie Boreham, Present Pasts

The link to this article can be found here.