Brittany Ferns

Hailing From The Newcastle Region Of NSW, Brittany Ferns Has Long Gravitated Towards The Landscapes Of Her Surroundings. She Has An Affliction For The Humble, Every Day Moments Captured From Day To Day Life. This Imbued Realism Is Evident In Her Work. A Street Vendor Selling Fruit, A Man Holding Flowers. The Faces Of Those Who Pass Her In The Street Serve As Her Subject, But Also Inform Her Practice. More Recently The Nature Of Her Immediate Environment, The Backyard And The Simple Beauty Of The Flowers Within It. Once The Subject Is Decided The Delicate Dance Of Texture, Shape And Material Is Found. Flat Planed Cubist Subjects Stare From Her Canvases, As If Plastered To A Street Wall Or Shopfront. Recurring Motifs Remain, While Still Life’s Explore A Connection To Place. 

Her Philosophy Embodies Themes Of Ephemerality And Time, She Encapsulates The Idea Of The Past Informing The Future. Her Figures Echo The Frescoes Of Ancient Civilizations And This Idea Extends To Her Use Of Materials. It’s These Materials That Give Her Work Its Layered Significance; Raw Pigments Are Mixed With Plasters, Waxes And Mineral Dusts To Impose Narratives Of History And Time. 

To Ferns, The Idea Of The Japanese Wabi-Sabi Philosophy Is Paramount – That There Is Beauty In Imperfection; Nothing Lasts, Nothing Is Finished, And Nothing Is Perfect.

Words By Joey Hespe