Unfunctional
Laurie Oxenford
Laurie Oxenford's work delves into the deconstruction
and reconstruction of function, purpose, and intention.
and reconstruction of function, purpose, and intention.
Unfunctional
Laurie Oxenford's work uses safety chains typically found in maintenance or safety management systems to render the glasses unwearable, while referencing sunglasses chains. By deconstructing the frame, she plays with functionality, revealing one of many unintended possibilities of the object. In line with her broader practice, which explores how context alters meaning, this intervention questions the role of function and material, subtly shifting the viewer's perception of everyday industrial elements.
Laurie Oxenford
Albania
Laurie Oxenford is an Australian artist, curator and public art producer. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Spatial Construction) from the University of Southern Queensland (2018) and was awarded the Bellmaine French Appreciation Travelling Scholarship the same year. She has since received the Judges Choice Award at Burleigh Brewing's Local Artist program and worked with the City of Gold Coast. Formerly Lead Curator at First Coat Studios, she is now Public Art Officer at Art-Work Agency.
Personal work
Laurie Oxenford's multidisciplinary practice combines painting, assemblage, deconstruction and altering recycled industrial materials or found functional objects for public and private spaces. She considers how context establishes new dialogues between artwork, space and viewer.
Her work comments on the role of material in art, sustainability and different ways of constructing conceptual meaning. Oxenford explores waste facilities and industrial landscapes where recycled, functional items—metal signs, industrial materials, everyday objects—become starting points for her creative process. She examines how context changes their meaning and how they, in turn, change the spaces they inhabit. Oxenford's practice uses curatorial principles of selection, space and installation. Referencing Minimalism, Arte Povera and conceptual art, she delves into deconstruction and reconstruction of function, purpose and intention. Recently she has begun exploring fabrication, mechanical movement and digital elements within her practice.
Her work comments on the role of material in art, sustainability and different ways of constructing conceptual meaning. Oxenford explores waste facilities and industrial landscapes where recycled, functional items—metal signs, industrial materials, everyday objects—become starting points for her creative process. She examines how context changes their meaning and how they, in turn, change the spaces they inhabit. Oxenford's practice uses curatorial principles of selection, space and installation. Referencing Minimalism, Arte Povera and conceptual art, she delves into deconstruction and reconstruction of function, purpose and intention. Recently she has begun exploring fabrication, mechanical movement and digital elements within her practice.