some kind of bliss
Stockroom Kyneton, gallery two
02 July/ 07 August 2022
REBECCA SELLECK
some kind of bliss
How do we stop being human? I want to know what exists beyond the limits of my perception.
A long way from home, I slip away from routine. The plants are the same, but different. The rocks jut with unfamiliar strata and insects make homes in strange symbiosis. There are moments that feel like bliss, walking through special places, losing myself in things I find. Leaves, bark, seedpods, blossoms, strange growths on plants, rocks, shells and sticks. Each one is more than an object, its touch an exploration of biological and geological histories stretching back further than I can fathom and their surfaces layered with intricate ecological interactions. Each object opens a networked history through time in that space that I can try to understand, but that’s ultimately beyond my comprehension. When I hold each one against my chest, it feels like that beautiful complexity becomes part of me.
I want to share that: that moment of bliss. To express their value I’ve taken the ordinary and fleeting and made them golden. Now they speak human, but what’s been lost in translation? The moment has passed and the object a facsimile formed from surface indentations, with no atoms left of the original, becoming just a permanent reminder of the ephemeral. In trying to escape what feels human I ultimately do things that are so human.
These pieces are portals into the beautiful complexities that exist all around us and a weighted reminder that we can’t escape being human. We are just our perceptions. But sometimes that can be beautiful anyway.
- Rebecca Selleck, 2022
bracken fern one, 2022
bronze, patina, silk, sealant, unique piece
62 x 62 x 20 cm
bracken fern one (detail), 2022
bronze, patina, silk, sealant, unique piece
62 x 62 x 20 cm
eroded shell one, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm
eroded shell two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 4 x 1.5 cm
eroded shell three, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3 x 2 x 1 cm
eroded oyster shell, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
6 x 4 x 2.5 cm
mussel shell, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4.5 x 2.5 x 1.8 cm
mussel shells, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4 x 3.5 x 1.5 cm
eroded shell four, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4.5 x 3 x 2.5 cm
coral section, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
5 x 3.5 x 2 cm
oyster lid, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
5 x 3 x 0.8 cm
little oyster lid two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 2.5 x 0.6 cm
little oyster lid one, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3 x 2 x 0.6 cm
little oyster lid three, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 2 x 1 cm
beach rocks, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 3 x 1.9 cm
beach rock, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2 x 2.8 x 1.5 cm
beach rocks two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 3 x 1 cm
eucalypt lumps, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1 x 2.3 x 2 cm
eucalypt growth, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 6.5 x 2.8 cm
eucalypt lumps two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2 x 2.5 x 2 cm
short banksia pod, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3 x 3 x 3 cm
long banksia pod, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
8.5 x 2 x 3 cm
gumnuts, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2.5 x 2 x 2 cm
long gumnuts, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
8 x 3 x 2.5 cm
mallee gumnuts, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3 x 5 x 2 cm
mallee flower and leaf, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3.5 x 2.5 x 1 cm
bottlebrush, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4 x 1 x 1.7 cm
mallee leaf, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1 x 4.5 x 2 cm
mallee flowers, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
4 x 2.5 x 1 cm
mallee leaf two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1 x 4 x 0.2 cm
mallee flower and leaf two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
3 x 5 x 1.2 cm
mallee leaf three, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1.5 x 4 x 0.2 cm
mallee leaf four, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1 x 6 x 0.2 cm
pink bark one, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, unique piece
7 x 2 x 0.5 cm
dried quandong, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm
insect leaf, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
2 x 1.5 x 0.5 cm
round eucalypt leaves, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, edition of 8 + 2AP
5 x 4.5 x 0.8 cm
pink bark two, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, unique piece
9.5 x 1.5 x 1 cm
river bark, 2022
bronze, silk, sealant, unique piece
8 x 3 x 1 cm
stick with lichen one, 2022
bronze, patina, silk, sealant, unique piece
2.5 x 22.5 x 2 cm
stick with lichen two, 2022
bronze, patina, silk, sealant, unique piece
2 x 14.5 x 1.5 cm
stick with lichen three, 2022
bronze, patina, silk, sealant, unique piece
2 x 7.5 x 3 cm
beach and river, 2022
digital video, 34 minutes 31 seconds