Kendall Murray – Show and Tell

Kendall Murray’s newest collection of miniature sculptures and assemblages considers the formative link between toys and human identity. Show and Tell explores the currency of toys and the psychological forces that motivate individuals to collect.

Found objects such as tea cups, spinning tops, toy telephones and timber games act as physical motifs, and are combined with other objects and sculpted into curious new forms overtaken by trees and foliage. The resulting sculptures represent the duality of toys as both a celebration of youth and rite of passage into adulthood.

Murray examines the significance of dolls in much of this work. Loyal companions, dolls act as silent teachers, normalising a child into sociocultural codes by representatively absorbing and translating the world of the adult.

In this exhibition Murray invites you to tumble down the rabbit hole with her to explore the role of toys in the lives of children and the fascinating psychological impulse in adulthood to collect toys. (AM)

Until Mar 12 (Tues-Fri 9.30am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm). Arthouse Gallery, 66 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. Info: arthousegallery.com.au