Exhibitions

Simon Fisher: From red earth and big sky is the first major solo exhibition Minyip artist Simon Fisher (born 1955) to be held in a public gallery and is the chronicling of one man’s prolific creativity, spanning the world across diverse landscapes, life experiences, travels and influences.

During Fisher’s childhood in Kiambu, Kenya, the artist’s early inspirations came from watching local craftspeople and makers busily working by hand (in Swahili: kazi ya mkono). In late childhood and early adolescence, Fisher moved first to the UK and later Australia, adapting as he went to new cultures, materials and environments.

Fisher’s teeming and abundant art practice, aided by his eidetic memory, is often inspired by the artist’s broad interest in poetry, including the work of Rilke, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, Anne Sexton, Robert Frost amongst many others. Fisher is unrestrained by medium and often combines everyday objects into playful creations. His curiosity and technical proficiency, honed through years of professional work across the art, theatre and architecture industries has led to explorations of painting, sculpture, collage, photography and new media including virtual reality, all included in this major retrospective exhibition.

After a long period where he described his art practice on ‘life support’, finally the artist quit work, and bought a cheap house in regional Victoria where I live a frugal life, concentrating entirely on “making”. It’s joyful and interesting.’

Profoundly fascinating and a lifetime in the making, Simon Fisher: From red earth and big sky is the artist’s life and artistic journey, inextricably enmeshed. Fisher’s practice blurs the lines between fine art, artistic exploration and a bowerbird-like drive to collect and archive.  ‘This is the central dichotomy I will deal with for decades’ the artist writes ‘formalism versus art as a diary of a life, art practice versus making to bring sense to chaos’.

Image: Simon FISHER Projection card n.d. mixed media collage and oil on cardboard, 20 x 15cm photographed for projection project at the Parajanov Museum, Yerevan Armenia Courtesy the artist.