BETWEEN APPEARANCES: THE ART OF LOUISE WEAVER

15 November 2019 – 9 February 2020

Featuring fantastical creatures, iridescent other worlds, uncanny objects and unsettling organic forms Between appearances: the art of Louise Weaver explored the multidisciplinary practice of one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists.

While Weaver is best known for her whimsical, thought-provoking sculptures of animals, Between appearances featured more than 100 works in an array of media including sculptural installations, paintings, drawings, printmaking, collage, textiles, movement and sound. The exhibition spanned three decades of the artist’s practice and reveals Weaver’s longstanding interests in fields as diverse as visual culture, art history, natural history, science and design.
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Absorbed in particular by the dynamics and fragility of the natural world and environmental concerns, Weaver has a fascination with cycles of growth, metamorphosis and the intricacies of camouflage. Her work plays with these concepts and extends them into ideas surrounding artificiality and transformation, social themes and feminism, underpinned by the enduring power of mythology, make-believe and memory.

Curated by Melissa Keys Between appearances unfolded across all four of the galleries at Buxton Contemporary. It traced her gradual shift from early figurative forms and compositions through to abstract paintings, objects and sound environments, comprising an overview of Weaver’s richly imaginative, critical and compelling work from the early nineties through to the present.
This exhibition was the second major monographic exhibition at Buxton Contemporary celebrating a highly regarded artist represented in the Michael Buxton Collection at the University of Melbourne.
Curated by Melissa Keys.

PAST EVENTS

BETWEEN APPEARANCES: THE ART OF LOUISE WEAVER

BETWEEN APPEARANCES: THE ART OF LOUISE WEAVER

Artist floor talk

Artist floor talk

PERFORMANCE – Between appearances: the art of Louise Weaver

PERFORMANCE – Between appearances: the art of Louise Weaver

Gallery

A black sculpture on wooden plinth with mesh screen behind

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist, photography Christian Capurro

A series of artworks on a gallery wall with a rope sculpture hanging from ceiling

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist, photography Christian Capurro

A series of artworks on a gallery wall with a mesh screen casting a shadow

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist, photography Christian Capurro

A series of artworks on a gallery wall with a sculpture on the floor

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist, photography Christian Capurro

A series of artworks on a gallery wall

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist, photography Christian Capurro

A series of artworks on a gallery wall

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, with (left to right) The skins of dreams (Narcissus) 2019, Nature Study (Butterfly) 2019, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, photography Christian Capurro

A yellow beaver with rocks on a fluffy plinth

Louise Weaver,No small wonder, 2005, (detail), Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, photography Christian Capurro1

A crocheted red wallaby on a plinth

L.Weaver-13112019-0057-scaled

Two red birds with fluffy heads on a crocheted plinth

Louise Weaver, From the House of Fabius Rufus, 2008, Private Collection, Melbourne, photography Mark Ashkanasy

A series of artworks on a gallery wall

Installation view, Between Appearances: the art of Louise Weaver, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne 2019, Courtesy the artist, photography Mark Ashkanasy

A sculpture of a bird with a diamond necklace

Louise Weaver, Liberty or love 1999, taxidermy bird (plover) diamentes, silk ribbon, cotton thread, silk organaza, plaster, Collection of Peter Ellis, Melbourne, photography Mark Ashkanasy

Exhibition Catalogue

Between appearances: the art of Louise Weaver features several major artworks from the Buxton Contemporary collection, shown at Buxton Contemporary for the first time, alongside over 100 additional works loaned from public and private collections across Australia.

The exhibition catalogue contains words from Melissa Keys and foreward by Ryan Johnston.

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ACCESS

ARTWORK LABELS

Download exhibition artwork labels to suit your viewing needs.

SUPPORTERS

Louise Weaver’s new work has been developed with the generous support of the Australia Council. The artist is represented by Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney.

Image credit: Louise Weaver, Taking a Chance on Love 2003 (detail), The University of Melbourne Art Collection Michael Buxton Collection Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Michael and Janet Buxton 2018

Buxton Contemporary acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we work, learn and create, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong peoples, and the wider Kulin Nations. We acknowledge their continuing care for Country and recognise that Australia’s First Peoples art and cultural practices have thrived here for millenia.