This series of artworks coincided with Auburn’s experience as a sculptor on feature films – an industry that continues to rely heavily on polystyrene as a material to create high-fantasy settings. It was in the Sculpture and Special Effects departments of films such as The Narnia and The Hobbit Trilogies, that Auburn honed the skills needed for her sculptural practice. At this time, polystyrene had only been recently legitimised as an art material through its use by such artists as Rachel Whiteread (UK) and Peter Robinson (NZ). The use of polystyrene prior to this had been almost entirely utilitarian outside of the film industry. Here we can see Auburn’s interest in the fragility and function of both ceramic and polystyrene as physical material and conceptual framework.
Work from this series has been shown in the following exhibition: ‘X years, still decaying’, Whitespace, 2009.
Cat Auburn (2008). Polar Bear. ceramic. photo credit: Cat Auburn.
The firing of ‘Polar Bear’ with UK ceramicist, Sarah Boyle.
Cat Auburn (2008). Great Houdini. cermamic. photo credit: Cat Auburn
Cat Auburn (2008). ‘After Friedrich’s The Polar Sea, 1824”. ceramic, polystyrene, glass, formica, wire. 650 x 900 x 400mm. photo credit: City Art Rooms
Cat Auburn (2008), ‘Domestic Glacier Series’. brass, polystyrene. photo credit: Cat Auburn
