Kimberley Cooney
Strathfield Girls High School
BIOMIMICRY
Sculpture
Tissue paper, PVA glue, Perspex, wood
Biomimicry: designing new products using patterns and strategies that occur in nature. The inspiration for my body of work was the form of viruses, bacteria and cancer cells as viewed under an electron microscope. Struck by the simple purity of the forms within the surrounding environment, I represented what I saw as an investigation of form and space. I pushed the medium of tissue paper to its limits, creating organic forms from geometric shapes. Through manipulation, the material transcends the world of the organic and metamorphic, taking on its own lifeform and transforming into biomimicry.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Bronwyn Oliver, Fiona Hall, Richard Sweeney.
Marker's Commentary
There is exquisite elegance in Biomimicry. A sense of curiosity is evoked in the forms of these imaginative organisms as well as the unique transformative properties of simple materials: predominantly paper and glue. Folded, twisted and cut, the paper forms move through space exploring their 3-dimensionality. It is as if these aesthetic objects could move and morph of their own accord. Their design and structure have been inspired by an amalgamation of natural forms. Read as virus and cancer, triffid or coral, the bleached surfaces allude to purity or the pallor of death. The surface detail is almost febrile, with spikes, baubles and hair elements repeated across surfaces. The sculptures draw you in to interrogate the intricate details of the cells with their technical finesse and beauty. The synergy of the poetic forms and surfaces is sharply contrasted with the conceptual underpinnings. The work is loaded with meaning, with the futuristic concept transcending the work itself.
