RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Weaver' s work is part of the exhibition, MCA Collection; New Acquisitions in Context 2013 which presented several new acquisitions alongside a selection of significant works from the existing collection. Curator Megan Robson selected Oracle Fox as an example of works that explored the 'landscape' in its various forms, as well dream states, nightmares, and the influence of Surrealism. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Oracle Fox brings to together a radical mix of western and non-western cultures and extends the history of the Surrealist object as a disruptor and erasor of aesthetic hierarchies. Like many Surrealist objects, Oracle Fox incorporated natural objects, animal, vegetable and mineral, found objects and interpreted found objects. Weaver's sculpture also integrates contemporary designer fashion. This represented a groundbreaking aspect of Surrealist objects and artistic output, as evidenced in the work of Meret Oppenheim, and Mimi Parent. Weaver's reinvention of a 'utilitarian' Japanese Hibachi (coal stove) to encompass a ritualistic and symbolic function is a strategy that parallels Victor Brauner's seminal 'Wolf Table', 1947, and the Rosemarie Trockel work 'Untitled' 1991 (a hanging bronze seal with blonde hair neck piece). RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Weaver's work can be seen as an object of symbolic function rather than strictly a sculpture in the classical western perspective. The inclusion of Oracle Fox in the New Acuisitions in Context exhibition marks a distinctly new context for 'Oracle Fox'. The exhibition presented recently acquired pieces in dialogue with artworks from the JW Power and MCA Collections and investigated dream states, nightmares and the influence of Surrealism with works by Nicholas Folland and Peter Booth. Oracle Fox was seen in this exhibition specifically in terms of Surrealism, creating new knowledge and complex psychological readings as a contemporary Surrealist object.
History
Subtype
- Original Visual Artwork
