TRACY LUFF
Far Far Away

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As a woman informed by two cultural identities, isolated in the tranquil Australian bush land, innovative sculptural artist Tracy Luff found inspiration for her upcoming exhibition Far Far Away. In what will be her second solo show at NG Art Gallery, the exhibition is simultaneously a celebration of place and connection and while not biographical, offers a meditative response to aspects of her existence as a now-Australian displaced from her cultural origins and birth place of Malaysia.

 

 

Since moving to Australia, Luff has engendered a personal project of assimilation and affiliation, interrupted sporadically by the inevitable Australian oddities. In a country where we 'hit the frog and toad,' visit our 'china plate,' live ‘in the sticks’ and answer 'the dog and bone' Far Far Away is a personal exploration of the social, geographical, physical and cultural relationships she has forged within her new environment, specifically the Southern Highlands. It reconsiders Luff's initial introduction to the Australian outback – 'the sticks' – not as a dry, hard, dead place to be dismissed, but rather one of beauty, tranquility and quietness: A place for peaceful engagement with ones feelings and emotions, and indeed a place to set up home.

 

 

Much like the beauty of the Australian bush tentatively reveals itself to those with the time, patience and willingness to connect; there seems a natural affinity between the artist's interpretation of a potentially desolate environment and her use of discarded cardboard. Describing the material as "beautiful, humble, quiet and subtle in nature," Luff assures us that it too has a voice and beauty worth appreciating.

In Luff's signature style, a complex system of tessellating cardboard discs will wrap and wind their way over and around the gallery space for the duration of the exhibition. Typically, Luff's jungle of sculptural branches and boughs reveal nothing of the union between precise mathematical equations and specially designed cutting implements employed in their systematic creation, but rather forgives the audience for momentarily thinking the organic forms may have indeed grown of their own accord.

 

Not setting out to make an environmental statement, Luff's use of recycled cardboard has little to do with ecological consciousness and more to do with the inherent necessity to make do with what you have when you don't have much at all: a residual feature of living in a developing country and one Luff again employs in her new cultural identity as an occupant of the Australian outback.

Download Tracy Luff's biography

Previous work by Tracy Luff 2011

Previous work by Tracy Luff 2010

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For further information, please email ng@ngart.com.au