15 May 2018

Merrick Fry's installation in the foyer of the SMART Research Building at the University of Wollongong presents a surreal vision of power stations in the landscape of the future. These power stations have the beauty and grace of the temples one might see in modern day Myanmar.

Fry's temples are made of recycled materials. They are the products of human ingenuity put to different uses than those for which they were originally designed and produced. Fry demonstrates his commitment to egalitarianism in his choice of everyday, common household objects to recycle and transform into a model of a future world. His is a world in which technological sophistication and environmental conscience are married. His artwork embodies the desire for a safer and more equitable world. He uses scale models of cows and sheep to give verisimilitude to his vision and help us to make the imaginative leap into believing that such a world is possible.

Fry's artwork presents an idealized high tech-eco-friendly-farm district that gives shape to an aesthetic view of human civilization in which energy production is technologically sophisticated, environmentally responsible, sustainable and beautiful.

Rod Holdaway (28 November 2014)