SODA11

Keen As Mustard

SoDA11 is on show at the John Curtin Gallery from Friday, October 14, ’til Monday, December 9. The gallery is located at Curtin University and is open Monday to Friday, 12pm to 5pm, and the last Sunday of the month (October 30 and November 27) from 1pm to 4pm. Admission is free.

Graduates from Curtin University’s School of Design and Art (SoDA) are having their artworks displayed at SoDA11, John Curtin Gallery’s annual exhibition of work by postgraduate artists on the cusp of their professional careers. This year’s exhibiting work spans video, jewellery, drawing, installation and painting.

One of the six artists presenting, Eden Lennox has just completed a Masters of Visual Art after many years travelling abroad learning jewellery making. She returned to Perth and enrolled in the Masters course to further her skills and connect to a new artistic network.

“After travelling to the UK, Europe, North America and around Australia I was ready to extended my skills in the mediums of painting, glass and jewellery,” says Lennox. “The Curtin course has elevated my skills and conceptual considerations in my practice.”

For SoDA11 Lennox’s pieces are a series of necklaces and rings which she calls ‘small sculptural ensembles’.They all feature an element of a well-known logo or brand trademark, something she says highlights her interest in playing with the idea of precious objects as individuality and to identify social status or standing, and the irony that entails.

“As we live our day to day lives we see up to 3,000 logos or brands in 24 hours,” explains Lennox. “When you wear a piece of jewellery it’s an adornment and a signal to someone else which class or subculture you belong to. I’m taking something you’d see in the deli or supermarket shelves and elevating its status by setting it upon faux jewels like cubic zirconia.

“Unlike other personal adornments like tattoos and piercings, fashion and jewellery is an adornment that centres around brand names and the signals that gives off to other people. I’m highlighting the irony of it all by falsely lifting everyday brands to an increased level of status.”

In one of the pieces, Keen, she takes the oh-so-familiar branding of Keen’s Mustard Powder and sets it on a pendant littered with faux diamonds. “We all know the culinary power of Keen’s Mustard when it comes to curried egg sandwiches,” she laughs. “The ‘unequalled flavour’ takes on an all new meaning in jewellery.”

In an unexpected extension of the irony, Lennox says that her pieces have come across as culturally problematic, something she didn’t expect when creating them.

“I did a seminar on my work earlier in the year and a couple of the students were visiting internationals. They didn’t understand the irony in the jewellery and it was then I realised that the brands I used were identifiably Australian,” she laughs. “I found it quite amusing how ingrained these brands were to the Australians.”

SoDA11 also features artworks by Charissa Delima, Terina Eastman, Peng Liu, Kevin Raxworthy and Joanne Richardson.

_DAVID GEOFFREY HALL