Stargazer

Research Background Concepts of a natural and post natural world have been highly charged and significant over the past Decade. Artists such as Mark Dion have created a dialogue around human animal relationships post-evolutionary theory, and the crisis facing our decreasing biodiversity. Weaver has explored these ideas since the early 1990's, evident in works that employ casts of animal forms and taxidermy in particular. The work 'Stargazer' originally a sculpture now reconfigured and represented as a lithographic print in the QUT collection. Research Contribution Louise Weaver concentrates on ideas about metamorphosis, evolution and representation. As she transforms animal and plant forms through 'fantastic, decadent reinvention' she animates her work with a sense of wonder and whims. Bridget Crone The creatures and environments she creates are obsessively covered in crocheted, stitched, woven and sewn coverings. Apart from enhancing the original form, these epidermises suggest processes of self-transformation, fashionable personal display and a nature subject to the same glossy media fantasies that we are. Wayne Tunnicliffe AGNSW By transforming the outward appearance of a natural animal form to a exaggerated and decorative covering, Weaver highlights the nature of camouflage and its relationship to human concerns such as identity, and our place in the world. Research Significance QUT holds one of Queensland's most significant public art collections and has been actively developing its holdings since its fledgling beginnings in 1945 under the banner of a predecessor institution, the Queensland Teachers' Training College. Spanning painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture, Selected Works includes a range of works by international and Australian artists which reflects the diversity of the University's collecting activities. Artists include: Chuck Close, William Kentridge, Sean Scully, eX de Medici, Louise Weaver, Arthur Boyd.