New Sound Works

Sharne Wolff

Artist Vicky Browne believes that sound is present in all works of art – it’s just a matter of listening to what they have to say. Her latest exhibition New Sound Works comprises a body of objects representative of hybrid instruments and sound amplifiers – floor and wall drums, various bells, megaphones and a record player. Constructed from a range of found and other materials including lead, wood, leather, foam, steel and glazed ceramics, Browne’s installation creates connections between environment and art, object and eye, perception and brain.

Humans are naturally wired for sound and Browne’s work demonstrates that more than one of our senses participates in the listening experience. Most of Browne’s sculptures are physically silent, calling on the innate power of suggestion of these objects generated by vision alone. Gramophone, however, is a character-laden tree stump the top of which has been carved in the shape of a turntable. A shiny copper horn readies itself for music while a stylus fashioned from metal emits a sound providing the viewer the enjoyment of  ‘listening’ to the tree.

Browne’s recent career has seen her exhibit Synchronic lines, a collaboration with musician Darren Seltmann at 2012’s MONA FOMA in Hobart and later this month her work will appear in the touring show Sound Full: Sound in Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art at the City Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand.

Until October 26