Shadow Play: Solo Exhibition at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Fiona Grady was invited by Chapter Arts Centre to create a series of window installations alongside the launch of Experimentica Live Art Festival. Her immersive artworks are perfect for the festival's theme About Time: Duration, Action, Space and Perception.
For her solo exhibition Shadow Play she was commissioned by Chapter to create a series of artworks on the cafe bar windows. Placed in three different areas of the gallery; the window installations reflect the structure of each of the windows they sit within. The drawings are composed from colourful transparent vinyl shapes - their size is determined by the window panes framework. The time-based artworks brighten and glow with the changing light of day to cast colour into the room and onto the adjacent surfaces. At times they become visible in the interior space, only to disappear in the evenings, when they are alternatively illuminated by the internal lights to reveal a vibrant appearance from outside the gallery.
Displayed alongside the windows installations are a series of works on paper Propositions which are inspired by the window drawings. In her artistic practice Fiona Grady often uses printmaking as a means to test out ideas: such as new drawing techniques, compositions and spatial possibilities. These works are suggestions for alternative layouts and colour schemes that directly reference the window drawing in Chapter's 'cwtch' windows.
The exhibition Shadow Play creates interactions within the venue that acts as small gestures with a big impact. The focus on shadows and daylight is a means to connect the interior gallery to the exterior environment. The ever changing artworks seek to encourage the galleries audience to consider the building and it's quieter moments.
