The Fractured Sanctuary by Ken O'Regan
"the sublime with the mundane"
Recently my dear friend, colleague and devout Substack reader the talented artist Ken O’Regan had his beautiful artwork, Fractured Sanctuary installed for Earth Day in our place of employment, The Newcastle Museum.
On Saturday I interviewed him about the stunning piece and also his career as an artist.
Ken has been an artist all his life and has lived in Newcastle since 1997. He’s inspired by ideas and architecture. Ken started out using acrylic paint before he moved to reusing objects.
”At one point after I traveled overseas and realized how much plastic there was in the world I thought, acrylic paint is plastic, why don't I just use plastic that is already existing?” he says.
Fractured Sanctuary is made of reused plastic objects, cable ties, steel wire, timber and light.
Here’s some poetic words from Ken’s website about Fractured Sanctuary.
”This work is inspired by the rose windows of mediaeval cathedrals, the leadlight of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, and the neon and backlit signage of modern commercial life.
It is composed of hundreds of everyday plastic objects that are transformed by light into a glowing, jewel-like, kaleidoscopic composition.
The work is paradoxical in that it elevates objects usually discarded into art, draws together sacred imagery with the profane, and while appearing beautiful – is composed of waste.
The work is both light and dark. The colourful, brightly lit work glows with a shiny optimism suggested by the rich colours and patterned surfaces; however there is an uneasiness suggested by the use of hundreds of plastic objects which darkens and undermines the imagery. This is intentional. The work deliberately juxtaposes imagery suggesting spiritual awe with commercial advertising, the immaterial with the material, and the sublime with the mundane.”
I first saw this piece last year at Maitland Regional Art Gallery’s Upriver Downriver group exhibition. It evoked a sense of holiness and reverence. You felt the need to sit down, gaze at it and be present.
I also love it installed at the museum, under the massive floating earth ball. It seems appropriate here, with the matching brilliant blues. It’s more playful installed at the Museum, near the hands-on-science section.
Ken first started making the work in 2019. Typical to his style, it’s made of found objects that would have otherwise gone in the trash. For the majority of Ken’s artwork, he collects items, is given items or buys them at second hand shops.
The color scheme is based on Notre Dame or Chartres Cathedral. He got the vision for this work while travelling back to Australia from Europe.
”We were on a plane coming across from Europe. I had a dream; I like making things based on dreams.” he says. “The dream was just some sort of glowing thing, probably from looking at cathedrals.”
Ken remembers really liking bright colors in art school.
”I liked putting clashing colors together. I like ugly things and garish things. And I was always told, you know, about making the colors more subtle by mixing them a bit more. And, I just wanted them to be quite garish. And with this sort of material, you get this color you can't mix. It can't be subtle,” he says.
Ken pointed out that when you first go into shops and stores, often the first colors that you see will be red and yellow. Shop owners deliberately do that because people are drawn to those colors. Often, the more expensive products will be more colorful than the cheap ones because consumers want to buy them.
He recalls a time in the early 2000s where many products used more transparent colors, like drink bottles.
”That's the whole premise of my work is that it's glass-like. To me, plastic is a wonderful symbol of consumerism. And I love the paradox of it being like glass, so therefore, has that potential to be stained glass and therefore religious. But also it's such a consumerist product. And I liken consumerism and capitalism to a belief system,” he says.
Upcoming exhibitions for Ken include a shipping container creation at Riverlights Multicultural Festival in Maitland. Then in December he has an exhibition at Watt Space Gallery that’s a combination of this piece plus a new body of work.
”It’s a combination of light boxes with artifacts inside made of relics. Sort of creepy SciFi with a bit of medieval decoration,” he says of the new art.
If you live in Newcastle and want to see Fractured Sanctuary, drop in the Museum before May 11th.
He told me it feels "quite good” to see his artwork displayed at his place of employment.
”I sit over here and tell people not to touch it,” he jokes.
Things I’ve been learning about this week.
My Mom shared this highly depressing article in the NYT about moms trying to turn their 9-year-old daughters into models/ kid influencers via social media.
This New Yorker article which was a little too long, but still interesting on the way reservation apps have completely changed dining in NYC.
This video on X my partner sent me, which, in a nutshell, highlights the problems with the concept of land ownership. Controversial, I know.
A NYT article on why dirt is good for you! Yum!
Thanks Alex. I love it!