Murray Fredericks, Icesheet #0712, digital pigment print, edition of 7, 120x150cm.
ARC ONE are pleased to announce Murray Fredericks’ latest series of photography is now on display in the exhibition Topophilia, 6 Nov - 7 Dec 2013, ARC ONE, Melbourne.
In the three years from 2010 to 2013, internationally renowned photographer Murray Fredericks made six journeys to the centre of Greenland’s Ice Sheet to create his latest project, Topophilia. Ten epic photographs from this series will be exhibited at ARC ONE Gallery from 6 Nov to 7 Dec 2013.
In Topophilia, Fredericks continues exploring the subjects of ‘space’ and the ‘void’. Conveying ‘an emotional experience of space’, Fredericks describes an ‘inner’, rather than ‘outer’ landscape. Fredericks locates his projects in featureless, perfectly flat landscapes austerely defined by an unbroken and continuous horizon. Working in such minimal environments, temporal atmospheric phenomena and the subtleties of light become powerful elements that define the visual plane. Verging on transcendental, this view transports us beyond our culturally imbued recognitions of the geographical qualities of place.
In these locations, moments with the potential to transcend the ‘literal’ present rarely. As a result, Fredericks’ projects extend over many years, with months spent in inhospitable places like Greenland’s Ice Sheet and Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, where the iconic series Salt was conceived. From the thousands of photographs produced, only a handful of images successfully convey this experience of space - where the landscape becomes merely the medium, rather than the subject. Whilst surviving in these locations (often solo) is a dangerous proposition, Fredericks says that the adventure is simply a by-product of the pursuit of a vision and an adherence to concept.
- Annabel Holt, November 2013
Fredericks’ resulting large-scale photographs have been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. Fredericks’ work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Artbank, Sydney; Macquarie Bank Collection, Sydney; Sir Elton John Collection, London; Valentino Collection; ABN Amro Collection, Museum of Sydney Collection, Sydney and numerous prestigious private collections. Fredericks has produced two documentaries; the multi-award winning and widely acclaimed Salt (Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre) and more recently Nothing on Earth, filmed in Greenland whilst producing Topophilia.
For all enquiries, please contact Annabel Holt at mail@arc1gallery.com