Marley Dawson: Fizzy Drinks / Material Links

The popular MAMA Kids Gallery welcomes its fourth artist commission – Fizzy Drinks / Material Links by artist Marley Dawson. The new space, designed specifically for young people, playfully combines materials like brass, aluminium, glass and stone that the artist has used throughout his career. Other components refer both to Dawson’s artistic palette and his childhood spent in Albury. There are bowling balls, gym crash mats, and significantly, a 10,000-year-old section of river red gum salvaged from sand quarries on the Albury Wodonga causeway. Combined in a steel structure resembling a 1980s jungle gym, the pieces form a time capsule of an artist’s life and work - the “material links” that have connected his work for years are presented with the “fizzy drinks” excitement of a children’s playground. About the Artist Using chemistry, mechanics and construction techniques, Marley Dawson creates sculptures and installations that highlight aspects of our world and selves that can be uncanny, surreal and extraordinary. Canberra-based, Albury-raised, Dawson has been exhibiting extensively for over a decade in Australia and internationally.