Showing 1 August to 22 September 2024
Curated by Aimee Frodsham
Cobi Cockburn is a celebrated contemporary artist, who uses glass, light, and line as her medium. For the last twenty years, she has been exploring the emotional and spiritual connections to the colour white, investigating how abstraction, in combination with the seemingly endless shades of white, can evoke human emotion. Pink Moon marks a departure from her established palette. Here, she uses colour as a metaphor for the human experience of being and feeling. Through creating large-scale yet exquisitely intricate light-based sculptural works, she merges her skills in kiln-formed glass with industrial processes such as neon, architectural glass, and steel.
The Pink Moon Rose, a tea rose with a soft pink bloom, is named after the full moon in April, which marks the onset of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The full moon has long been linked to cultural and spiritual practices embodying transformation and life cycles. The rose, a ubiquitous symbol of love, serves as a dedication to Cockburn’s mother, whom she lost at nineteen. Every year since her mother’s passing, Cockburn received a message of love from a family friend that read, ‘Your mother’s rose is flowering,’ acknowledging it with care, but not letting it penetrate too deeply until now.
The overarching theme of Pink Moon centres around notions of the temporal nature of existence. In forming this exhibition, Cockburn could have become too caught up in personal nostalgia, delving into self-pity or aligning too closely with stereotypes around the colour pink. However, the result is a brave exhibition, referencing abstract art, poetry and the philosophy of love and grief which is not binary. The geometric iconography used within the work is intentionally paired back to draw viewers in, creating spaces for the viewer to explore of their own consciousness and perception.
Cobi Cockburn is represented by Dominic Mersch Gallery, Sydney
Opening event Wednesday 31 July 2024 at 5pm
Artist talk to be announced
Cobi Cockburn, Pink Moon, installed in the Smokestack at Canberra Glassworks
Cobi Cockburn, Pink Moon # 3, 2024, neon, acrylic . Courtesy of the artist.
Cobi Cockburn, Study of Light 1 – 5, 2024 , neon, glass. Courtesy of the artist.
