Mark Anderson
KIRSTEN REYNOLDS Repercussus, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Ten Days on the Island Festval, Hobart, Tasmania, 2011 (photo: Kirsten Reynolds)

KIRSTEN REYNOLDS | Gallery

Kirsten Reynolds makes art that deals in revelation. Working in drawing, sculpture, installation, painting, print, photography and sound she makes radical re-interpretations of classical and traditional themes and is often inspired by historical, scientific and philosophical ideas concerning the natural world. Following in the footsteps of the Dadaists and Futurists, Reynolds uses unusual combinations of modern and ancient techniques and materials to create intuitive and uniquely personal works.

Revelling in re-using materials and equipment discarded by the modern world Reynolds' work presents a wry and idiosyncratic view of our times, aspirations and failings. 1995 she co-founded Project Dark with Ashley Davies and began deconstructing audio-visual conventions with a series of inventive live shows, primarily using their legendary Singles Club catalogue, a collection of sculptural 7" singles made from materials such as glass, steel, wood, vinyl, glasspaper, circular saws and human hair with domestic record players and motorized gramophones pioneering what has since been termed turntablism.

Taking an experimental, almost musical, approach to fine art, Reynolds began working with landscape painter and curator Alan Rankle in 2010 to make an ongoing series of collaborative paintings entitled On the Edge of Wrong. These works made under the name Rankle & Reynolds explore a visual dialogue between the two artists and have been exhibited to great critical acclaim in Italy with the first museum show at the Fondazione Stelline, Milan followed by further exhibitions in Switzerland, Copenhagen and London.

After working in some of the world's most magnificent parks and botanical gardens in the world during the Power Plantshows of 2005-10 Reynolds began a series of expressive nocturnal light-drawing photographs in nature – literally painting with light during a physically demanding 45-second-long exposure. The resulting viscerally dynamic images allude to ancient mythological, religious and folk notions surrounding the cultural significance of trees particularly their spirits, powers and symbolic role as a link between heaven, earth and the underworld. These ideas are brought up to date with the visual acknowledgement that both natural and artificial invisible and unexplained forces constantly surround us.

www.kirstenreynolds.co.uk