The Artist: Amanda Parer

Amanda Parer’s unique artworks explore the natural world and raises questions about our role and impact on it. Her fascination with the environment began early in childhood and continues to influence her work today. Here, she tells Luxury Defined about her inspirations, current installations, and plans for the future.

What was your childhood ambition?
To be an artist. Early on, I recognized that I had a strong visual sense. When I was a child I always seemed happiest when I was being creative.

You cite your mother as being influential in helping you become an artist. Tell us more.
Much of my creativity stems from my mother – I grew up watching her paint and create. My mother’s support has always encouraged me to be happy and confident in what I do, and as I have always been happiest while working in art, she has always been there to provide me with ongoing emotional support and reinforcement. Even though I am now a mother myself I still find her support invaluable.

A lot of your work features animals – did you have pets when you were growing up?
I grew up in Sydney’s suburban west, at the base of the Blue Mountains National Park. Our house backed on to a river and, as children, my siblings and I used to play in it, catching guppies and tadpoles, throwing them into a fish tank and watching them grow into frogs. My father was very much into letting us have “extensive” experiences, even with our pets – still essentially living in suburbia, a dog or a cat was considered a normal pet, but at various times growing up we had mice, quails, a kangaroo, and a Diamond Python.

Your work looks at the natural world and our place in it. When did you first become aware of “nature”?
Living close to the Blue Mountains was a deliberate move by my parents so we could make the most of the pristine landscape on our doorstep. Many a weekend we would go bush-walking or camping. Australia benefits from being a young (in a western sense) country, so much of the original landscape still exists.

But my real understanding and conscious appreciation of nature came to the fore when I visited the Galapagos Islands with my uncle David Parer. David is a natural history filmmaker, most noted for his Emmy Award-winning 1993 documentary Killer Whales: Wolves of the Sea. In 1997 I was fortunate enough to spend four months with him, his family, and his crew, filming across the islands. The Galapagos are the most pristine islands on earth, and the animals generally do not recognize man as a threat. As a result I had some amazing encounters with the marine and terrestrial animals there.

Over the past 20 years my work has extensively focused on landscapes; even portraits have had a significant focus on the placement of the subject.

How do you think where you grew up has shaped your work?
In the Blue Mountains there were always large undeveloped areas for us to explore – at the time I suppose it was considered a wild frontier. When I moved into Sydney as an art student, that frontier was Sydney Harbor and the ocean. I’ve always had expanses to view and draw inspiration from for my work.

How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?
Absolutely brilliant! No seriously, I like to think my work allows a viewer to relax into the landscapes and hopefully identify with the subject, which, despite the inappropriateness of it being there, is at ease with the balance it has created with the landscape. I like to think that there is an element of fun in my work, and although it can reference some fairly significant topics, occasionally the sheer absurdity of the image will make people smile. This allows people to approach the work and the themes with less trepidation. I don’t seek to brow-beat the viewer.

How did your painting evolve into 3D objects?
All through art school I found myself being interested in immersing the viewer, so I made paintings that were so large they filled the viewer’s scope of vision. Later in my career I often put oversized feral animals (mostly rabbits) in landscapes toiled by man. While trawling the internet, I came across images from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. A seed was sown and I realized I could make 3D oversized rabbits as an installation – as inflatables. Instead of making a 2D render of my idea, I could develop it and make it not only sculptural but experiential by creating five separate forms that people could walk among. [The five rabbits now make up the artwork Intrude.]

Making installations has really freed me up: I can make works that use light, form, space, and sound, that allow people to fully experience them with all of their senses, rather than just looking at them. It’s opened up a whole new world for me creatively. Some of my sculptures invite touch as well as sight and sound, but thank goodness I haven’t resolved the issue of smell (23-foot-high bunnies could be rather devastating).

Your giant rabbits are cute (kids love them). But there’s more to Intrude than meets the eye.
I know the rabbits are cute, and because they are cute they are approachable. And I believe that because the artwork is approachable, the dialogue that it encourages can commence. In the same way an innocent bunny can be devastating on its environment, so too can it be a devastating delivery system for the message in the work. It’s also worth noting that these rabbits are up to 23 feet tall, and while viewed from a distance they might appear approachable. Up close these seemingly harmless rabbits can dwarf a human being.

The rabbits have traveled extensively – what kind of reactions have they provoked?
The rabbits have generally been shown as part of family-friendly festivals around the world. There have been literally thousands of children playing around the rabbits, but similar amounts of adults, too. The child-like memories that the bunnies invoke seem to consistently result in smiles and hugs – often for the rabbits. When the rabbits were first displayed there was some concern about the number of people who wanted to touch them. It’s not surprising to find lipstick marks on the bunnies, and while these can be difficult to clean off, it is gratifying to see such a positive response to the artwork.

How do you work (ideas, studio, practice)?
I have been working as an artist for many years and constantly develop interests, and I wait to see if they develop into a well-rounded idea that is worth pursuing. I enjoy thinking up an idea, especially installation work that is seemingly impossible to make, and then bringing in the right people to help make it happen. I have appreciated the move from studio work, making paintings and smaller sculptures… that kind of work can be quite solitary. Installation work is collaborative, from design through manufacture and on to installation. I am constantly learning new things.

What are your plans for 2016?
Intrude continues to travel internationally. The pieces seem to continually feature on social media, and I receive requests from all around the globe. Also, my piece Entitle, which is comprised of seven illuminated sculptures and debuted at the Vivid Sydney festival in 2015, has also generated lots of interest, so hopefully it will also be invited to festivals and exhibitions. And a new series entitled Fantastic Planet debuted at the Winter Lights 2016 festival at Canary Wharf in London at the start of the year. I also have some collaboration works in development, which I hope will be both fresh and exciting, and a major show in Hong Kong for the second half of 2016 is in the planning stage.

You now live in Tasmania – when and why did you move there?
We moved to Tasmania a little over 10 years ago, shortly after our first child was born. Having benefited greatly from being brought up around a large amount of nature, my husband and I agreed that immersing our children in nature would be healthy and valuable. Since being in Tasmania, the environment has continued to inspire me and my work, and the lifestyle has supported my career development as an artist.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?
We live in Launceston, a town in the north of Tasmania with an abundance of nature close by, so I like to enjoy that environment as much as I can with my family. Whether that be driving to a beach, or snow fields, or mountain ranges, or even just spending time in our garden with our own animals. The only downside is that it can sometimes be difficult to switch off as I always draw inspiration from what I see around me. In that way, inadvertently, I am almost always working.

Which other artists do you like and why?
My influences are wide and varied, and I take bits from everything that I see. But I have long been an admirer of Jeff Koons. I like the humor in his work, and his ability to traverse mediums. I love the way he can make art spectacular. I also really respect Anish Kapoor’s work. He is an artist with the ability to consider people’s personal, domestic, atmospheric, and environmental spaces. I am especially fascinated with the ephemeral concert hall he designed called Ark Nova – a 118-foot-high inflatable bubble-shaped hall that can accommodate 500 people. Kapoor created this in partnership with Japanese architect Arata Isozaki to tour around the tsunami-stricken areas of Japan.

My influences are wide and varied, and I take bits from everything that I see.

Where do you like to eat and drink, and why?
One of the other benefits of moving to an area like Launceston is being closer to your food sources. We have the time and space to have a nicely sized vegetable patch; we have a variety of fruit trees, and we even have chickens. So home-grown and home-cooked food features frequently for us. However my husband and I also enjoy experiencing the flavors of our cultural heritages. My background is Catalan and my husband’s is Chinese Malaysian, and we enjoy visiting restaurants that provide us with a culinary reminder of our ties to our roots.

And which are your favourite shops and why?
When I research cities before I visit them, one of the first things I search out are the antique stores and markets. I find that those places provide a truer memory of the countries that I visit than any department store. I enjoy the act of treasure hunting – my home is filled with artifacts that my husband and I have collected over the years, and they provide us with fond memories of our travel adventures.