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Pat Foster and Jen Berean - The Problem with Stability
30 January - 13 March 2010

Melbourne-based artists Pat Foster and Jen Berean have been
working collaboratively since 2001, developing their projects
and interventions within numerous gallery and museum spaces
in Australia and New Zealand. Their work, incorporating site-
specific installations, photography and sculpture, often uses
the language of architecture, social infrastructure and design
- things that typically require collaboration in order to have
a successful outcome.

The precision and clean lines inherent in the grammar of their
work often refers back to public spaces and, how the physicality
of these spaces is predicated upon both wanted and unwanted
functionality - the bumps for example, introduced at pedestrian
crossings to alert blind and partially-sighted people of their
location or inversely, the bolts introduced to ledges to
discourage skateboarding. Indeed some works take the notion
further, to the space in the aftermath of design, relinquished
to the public.

In working between Fire Station Artists' Studios (which borders
the IFSC/Docklands and the inner city) and Pallas Contemporary
Projects (which lies between Smithfield and Stoneybatter) the
artists and their practice are ideally situated to reflect the
ways in which the boom times and economic downturns have shaped
the physicality of the inner-city. The exhibition, produced

during the artists' Dublin residency, incorporates both local
histories and universal urban forms. Combining sculpture and
wall based elements, the body of work continues the artists'
focus on an inherent anxiety embedded in the built environment.

Pat Foster received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing) in 2004
and his Honours in 2005, from the VCA. Jen Berean received a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001, and a Bachelor of Architecture
in 2006, both from RMIT. Recent exhibitions by Pat Foster and
Jen Berean include "NEW09" at Australian Centre for Contemporary
Art, "The Group Group Show" at Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA,
2008; "Preview '08" at Murray White Room, Melbourne, 2008;
"Revolving Doors" Uplands Gallery, Melbourne, 2008; "One Thing
After Another" at First Draft, 2007; "Incident in the Museum"
Monash University Museum of Art, 2006. Their work has been
featured in various publications, including Frieze, Art World
and Art & Australia.

This exhibition coincides with the artists' international studio
residency award, presented as part of an ongoing exchange between
Fire Station Artists' Studios and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
in collaboration with Pallas Contemporary Projects.

 

 

 

Pallas Contemporary Projects
111 Grangegorman Road Lower, Dublin 7, Ireland
T: +353 1 635 9766
E: info [at] pallasprojects.org
Opening Hours: Thurs - Sat, 12 - 6 pm