Futures

FUTURES is excited to present Husk by Nathan Beard, his first solo exhibition with the gallery and in Naarm, Australia.

Freshly back from his residency at ACME Studios in London, Nathan presents a new body of multimedia works that flirt with desire and repulsion. The works draw on cultural imagery creating uncanny forms that glamorize and contort expressions of ‘Thainess’.

Silicon casts of the artist’s feet, adorned with painted nails are stuffed into vintage Gucci glitter pumps and form the central sculpture. In a series of wall works, photos of archival material collected from The British Museum are repurposed and dotted with silicone casts of durian fruit (and pulp)¬ ¬– a fruit that's fragrance evokes reactions ranging from deep appreciation to intense sensory disgust. The beauty of the 'other' is referenced here, conceived by moments of 'Thainess' generated outside of Thailand– from Siam red nail polish, to the stock imagery commonly found in nail salons – and transformed into what is a gloriously grotesque glamour. Hybrid art-making pressed literally to the edge!

Nathan Beard (born 1987) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Boorloo/Perth who draws from his Australian-Thai heritage to unpack the influences of culture, memory and authenticity in his work. Beard adapts intimate exchanges with family and archives alongside broader cultural signifiers of 'Thainess' to generate visually extravagant fluxing of identity across mediums including sculpture and photography. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Australia with a current solo exhibition titled 'A Puzzlement' 28 October – 8 January 2023 at the Perth Cultural Centre PICA (WA).

PRESS
The Age

Photography by Christian Capurro