Installation (Cinerea soft ground 1 & 2, The garden)

Transcript

Created by artist Kylie Banyard with the assistance of Saskia van Pagee Anderson, this site-specific installation consists of multiple cushion-like sculptures positioned in a way in which the audience can walk around, move items and touch. Two textile paintings hang on the left and right side of the sculpture, angling outward as if to invite the audience in.

Of the four larger pillows, two are rectangular in shape, with one, titled Cinerea soft ground 1, 2024,  measuring 2.1 m by 1.6 m,  and the other, titled Cinerea soft ground 2, 2024, measuring 1.6 metres by 1.2 metres. Both are lying flat on the floor. The other two cushions, which are part of a larger work titled The garden, 2024, are cylindrical and approximately 60 cm in length and these are positioned lying on their sides.

The two flat cushions, which are thought of by the artist as 'garden beds,' are made with an array of different coloured fabrics that have been patched together.

The larger rectangular pillow consists of multiple patches of smooth material in different sizes, colours and patterns, including one which is light grey, a larger patch which is peach in colour and one that is pale green, while other patches have patterns such as black material with splashes and flecks of peach colour. Another is dark blue, also with splash-like shapes in white.

The smaller rectangular cushion, which has sides on it similar to the shape of a box, is made up of the same patchwork  but of differently coloured smooth materials. Of the multiple patches, one piece is light grey. Another is a dark grey, while another piece is a light brown colour. The edge of the pillow is made up of rectangular patches of colour consisting of a light green and dark purple pattern, a dark green, and lastly a light blue which is so thin it appears like a stripe.

The last two cylindrical pillows have various sizes of patches of material wrapping around them, such as   a patch of black coloured material which appears to have a peach colour splattered over it. Another patch is a pale pink which fades into a pale purple and the last section is of a light brown. On one of the flat ends of the cylindrical pillow are patches of pink and green, positioned beside each other, while the other end is made up of a pale blue and yellow patch with a straight hot pink line between the two.

The second cylindrical cushion is the same in structure however different in colour. The first patch is multi-coloured, featuring pale peach, green, and blue colours which overlap each other while another patch is a dark blue. On one of the flat ends of the pillow the material is purple while at the other end it is red.

Included in this art piece as part of Banyard’s work The garden are long and narrow stuffed tubes, which range in length from approximately 8 metres to 17 metres and are vine-like. These are also made out of patched-together materials, with the stitching visible, that are different in colour, ranging from dark green with splashes of white to peach, yellow, pink, black, red, and blue-green. Three main types of materials were used to create these patches: calico, which is a heavy woven textile, canvas, as well as cotton drill, a heavyweight, slightly rigid fabric. All of the patches are rectangular and are located on the front half of the tube, exposing the back of the tube. The backs of the tubes are each a different colour, such as dark green or grey, which runs the entire length in one solid colour. These tubes curve and wrap around the pillows while some of these tubes hang from the ceiling and drape over the top of the cushions and coil on the floor to the side of the pillows.

Also a part of the work The garden are about 20 teardrop-shaped cushions inspired by the shape of correa flowers of the correa plant; however they are larger than what would be found in nature. The shape appears to be a three-dimensional oval that is slightly pointed at one end to give a petal-shape effect. The correa cushions come in four sizes - the largest is approximately 40 centimetres in length by 20 centimetres in width, and the smallest is approximately 25 centimetres in length by 12 centimetres in width. Each side of the correa forms are made of a differently coloured material. Up close, one side of a correa cushion appears light brown in colour and has raised lines vertically running along the length of the fabric, and the other side is brown and peach in colour. Another is a deep red colour made of a fuzzy velvet on one side and a bright yellow on another side. Other colourful versions of these correa flowers are placed on the cushions and some are dangling from the ceiling on multicoloured rope. The rope connecting to each correa flower is made of thin strips of canvas and they differ in colour.  One rope is pink at the top and fades to blue at the bottom while another is completely grey. Some correa flowers hang by themselves while others hang in colourful bunches, similar to being in a garden.