Felt Habitat consists of frieze-like felt works depicting interiors devoid of humans, where the furniture becomes a substitute for people and the interior space becomes a psychological space. Part of this psychology is contemporary culture’s fetishising of objects that has become a language in itself, with magazines such as Elle Decor and Wallpaper* where there is as worship of material culture.
Exhibition Dates: 17 March – 10 April 1999
Kathy Temin’s exhibition Felt Habitat continues the artist’s long-held interest in architecture and living environments. The work has used objects and colours that have an association with memory. Now the artist is wanting to use a combination of high design and the everyday, with references to the styles of the 1960s and 1970s, when furniture was made for comfort and was strongly connected to the human body.
Felt Habitat consists of frieze-like felt works depicting interiors devoid of humans, where the furniture becomes a substitute for people and the interior space becomes a psychological space. Part of this psychology is contemporary culture’s fetishising of objects that has become a language in itself, with magazines such as Elle Decor and wallpaper* where there is as worship of material culture. The childhood game of fuzzy felt, with its nostalgic and feminine overtones, is combined with the image of the dollhouse. Toys allowed children, and especially girls, to create their own dream environments in preparation for adulthood and marriage. The works combine the repetition associated with commercially mass-produced designer furniture with the games making the work modular in their flexibility. The objects in space shift from image to image, making up different rooms and different meanings. By reworking Eames’s house of cards into life-size and incorporating photographic images of her own collections and interiors, Temin creates personalised templates for her own version of mix-and-match.
Kathy Temin studied at the Prahran College, Melbourne and did a Masters at the Victorian Collegeof the Arts, before doing postgraduate research at Goldsmiths College in London. She had an Australia Council residency at P.S.1, New York. Temin has shown throughout Australia, Europe, America and Asia, and her work is held in most of Australia’s major collections. She is the winner of the 1999 Moët and Chandon Art Award.
Group Show, The First 40 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Kathy Temin Mothering Gardens
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2021
Group Show, State of Play
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2017
Group Show, Solid State
Casula Powerhouse, 2015
Group Show
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2015
Kathy Temin Black Gardens
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2013
Kathy Temin Garden Islands
Fridcorp Commission, Melbourne, 2012
Kathy Temin My Monument: Black Garden
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2011
Group Show, True Story
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2010-11
Kathy Temin Indoor Gardens
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2007
Group Show, The First 20 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2002
Kathy Temin My Kylie Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2001
Group Show, All Stars
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2000
Kathy Temin Felt Habitat
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1999
Group Show, Wish You Luck
PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York, 1998
Kathy Temin Model Homes
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1996
Group Show, Stockroom
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1995
Kathy Temin
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1995