Untitled (Past) C. Scott

Inspired by three events in New Zealand history – the first shipment of frozen meat from Port Chalmers, the conquering of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary, and the construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme – C.A. Scott's work Untitled (Past), captures these pivotal episodes as images literally suspended in blocks of ice.

These frozen images rest atop pedestals of salt, which serve both a practical and formal function. Absorbing the liquid from the melting ice, while at the same time leaving a trace of their existence, they create a sculptural presence out of absence.

Drawing from the vocabulary of Minimalism and Conceptualism, while also embodying the spirit and showmanship of Fluxus and Happenings, Scott's work is not bound by generic restrictions. His artistic practice is invested in what he refers to as "reimaginings" and "reinscriptions," informed by Nietzschean concepts of creativity and destruction.

In his most recent series of works, which he describes as "experiments in impermanence," Scott applies traditional image-making techniques to inherently ephemeral materials. Etchings are created in wax slabs that slowly melt, photographs are set alight, and images are frozen in melting blocks of ice.

C.A. Scott is a Dunedin-based artist who has studied at both The School of Art Institute of Chicago and The Charles Pratt Institute of Art (New York), where he received a BA Honours with Distinction in Cultural Studies. He has received numerous awards and grants for his work including the Charles Pratt Award for outstanding Achievement in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2004). Scott is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Otago.

Presented alongside Aidan Howse Ghost Moth and Jason Secto MODERNLOVE