Attack Decay Sustain Release

Preface #1. ‘of his time’ is not a phrase intended to be disparaging or suggestive of an artists inability to be timeless. Quite the opposite.

Preface # 2. I have a particular focus on sound at the moment, which greatly influences how I perceive things.

 

 

Nathan Gray is an artist ‘of his time’ (see Preface #1). Right here. Right now. His latest work, Attack Decay Sustain Release, is a perfect rendition of Melbourne, Spring, 2009 – a time and place where colour has shock and pizzazz, electro clash is du jour, change is in the air and enthusiasm is no longer a dirty word. 

 

This exhibition, which runs throughout all three galleries at Craft Victoria, brings together an amazingly vibrant series of colours, lines, textures, vibrations and space. You can’t help but continue to weave back and forth through the gallery, like some crazy dance move, following the zany story the installation takes you on - into and out of the gallery walls, the floors and that iceberg-esque pile of plinths. 

Up high, down low, too slow. 

I half-expected to hear sound effects at each little intersection or connection point: zzzzzing! pop! kapow-wowowowow. And it’s this sonic element to the work that has me particularly excited. (see Preface #2)

Attack Decay Sustain Release are effects in electronic sound production, as well as the title of an album by electro-fiends Simian Mobile Disco. Given that, the title is such a perfect fit for this work -  Nathan’s pieces are the renaissance of the synthesiser. They are a playful visual version of a stinging electronic soundscape and they have the  confidence and swagger of someone who has just turned it up a notch.