Simon Cottrell will be giving a lecture Tuesday evening June 30th at 7pm In the Gallery at Brooklyn Metal Works. Cottrell is giving this talk in support of “Timbre” an exhibition of new work on view at Sienna Patti.
The specific combination of qualities within a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume is its ‘timbre’. While my works are tangible and far less transient than any sound can ever be, this term which defines the inherent small differences within similarities seems more than apt to apply. The ongoing and slowly shifting use of certain preset parameters with only a singular material and an achromatic palette, has become my formal language. Working within this sameness seems to be leading me to focus more closely on the possible variances within those systems of working, and heightens my sensitivity to relationships between tiny details within one piece or across past works.
After almost 20 years of working within the realm of jewellery, the incremental shifts between works are becoming increasingly minuscule. I have no need to hurry or progress in leaps and bounds. Each piece, is conceived primarily for an existence in collaborating with a wearer towards their communication of self. From a wearers perspective, prior relationships between other earlier works of mine are insignificant.
As ever my work retains a decisive avoidance of direct allusions or clearly resolved representation. This is not so much by thorough pre-planning, rather by only allowing coy suggestions of subjects to repeatedly rise in a responsive and intuitive process of making, and then continuing countering those subjects. The result usually evokes something between anything and nothing.
Simon Cottrell is an Australian artist based in Canberra. In 1996 he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with Honours in Gold and Silversmithing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). In 2005 he was awarded an RMIT University Scholarship for a Master of Arts by Research. He has been teaching since 2001 and is currently a Lecturer and Researcher at the Australian National University, and has also been invited to teaching workshops, giving seminars and lectures at institutions around the world. Since 1996 he has exhibited extensively in over 120 exhibitions, in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, USA, Japan, The Netherlands, UK, Malaysia, France, Thailand, Canada, Italy, India, Spain and China.
The October 2013 issue Metalsmith magazine published a feature article on the work and practice of Simon Cottrell, written by Marjorie Simon.