Spencer Harrison
Akustik
22.01.20 – 08.02.20

Akustik is an exhibition of abstract works by Melbourne based artist, Spencer Harrison exploring sound, vibration, colour and form. These works draw on scientific discoveries into sound and acoustics made by physicist Ernst Chladni, which occurred around the same time abstraction emerged in 18^th century Europe. Amongst his discoveries, Chladni is most recognised for his methods for visualising the vibration of sound waves through matter, generating what are known as Chladni Diagrams. These visualisations are produced by passing sound through metal plates covered in fine sand, revealing invisible nodal lines of vibration. Documented in his book ‘Discoveries in the Theory of Sound’, these beautiful abstract diagrams had ongoing significance in science, influencing acoustics and the development of mathematics underlying atomic structures. Drawing on his own background in science and an ongoing interest into its intersection with abstraction, Harrison has used Chladni’s diagrams as the starting point for this new body of works, adapting them into a wall painting and series of wall-based reliefs. Utilising his knowledge of colour theory, Harrison has created vibratory colour combinations in the works, transforming these otherwise static scientific structures into dynamic visual experiences of sound and vibration.

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Spencer Harrison is a visual artist, whose interdisciplinary practice is concerned with the dialogue between formal abstraction and a complex modern world. Created through an intuitive process of continual experimentation, his work combines a variety of traditional, industrial and everyday materials to create enigmatic abstract structures that provoke curiosity in the viewer. Hyperreal and paradoxical, his works draw on ideas from a network of influences including quantum physics, biology, metaphysics, mysticism and culture.

Alongside his studio practice, Spencer is currently undertaking a Masters of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne.