olga cironis

handle me gently

11 april - 10 may 08

• press release

Olga Cironis is originally from Sydney, but has made Perth her home over the past 12 years. In this exhibition of new work she has created three dimensional animals based on drawings by her young daughter.

Each quirky creature has a welded steel armature, covered with foam padding, then finally encased in old blankets. Olga will be encouraging the public to interact with her animals by picking them up, or moving them using their inbuilt handles.

Olga explained her work by saying she “used numerous collected woollen blankets, covering each foam covered object with one specially chosen blanket and loading it even further with the meaning of warmth, love, protection and hiding behind some cover. The toys/animals become laughable in their colourful attire, stupendous in shape and size… Each work is amorphic in terms of shape and ambiguous in their stance and positioning within the space. The sculptures are individual and separate works, yet together they create an installation and a performance when the public interact with the work.”

Olga’s artworks can be found in the collections of BankWest, Royal Perth Hospital, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, WA School of Art & Design, Fremantle Hospital and numerous private collections.

handle me gently 1 steel, foam, blanket 59 x 16 x 62cm 2008 $1,700 sold	handle me gently 2 steel, foam, blanket 136 x 26 x 115cm 2008 $2,600
handle me gently 4 steel, foam, blanket 55 x 63 x 30cm 2008 $1,600	handle me gently 3 steel, foam, blanket 48 x 92 x 36cm 2008 $1,900
handle me gently 5 steel, foam, blanket 54 x 92 x 35cm 2008 $2,000	handle me gently 9 steel, foam, blanket 120 x 78 x 40cm 2008 $2,400
handle me gently 7 steel, foam, blanket 77 x 112 x 23cm 2008 $2,100	handle me gently 8 steel, foam, blanket 92 x 104 x 50cm 2008 $2,500
handle me gently 6 steel, foam, blanket 65 x 71 x 25cm 2008 $1,800	handle me gently 10 steel, foam, blanket 73 x 67 x 22cm 2008 $1,600
handle me gently 11 steel, foam, blanket 74 x 73 x 30cm 2008 $2,100	handle me gently 12 steel, foam, blanket 63 x 79 x 28cm 2008 $1,900
handle me gently 13 steel, foam, blanket 64 x 92 x 41cm 2008 $2,300	handle me gently 14 steel, foam, blanket 68 x 80 x 34cm 2008 $1,800
handle me gently 15 steel, foam, blanket 54 x 39 x 20cm 2008 $1,700 sold	handle me gently 16 steel, foam, rope, blanket 34 x 280 x 35cm 2008 $1,700