when: 17 October 2025 - 02 November 2025 | venue: Platform | cost: See event for details | address: 19 Furneaux Street Forrest 2603 | website: https://canberracontemporary.com.au
published: 22 Oct 2025, 5 min read
Gavin Bradstreet's practice is shaped by his studies in Fine Art at the National Art School and fifteen years working in fashion — different yet deeply interconnected worlds. His sculptural forms draw on processes familiar to both disciplines: sourcing materials, patternmaking, sewing, and construction. At the heart of his work lies a fascination with the curious beauty of repurposed materials, transforming what is overlooked or disregarded into forms that prompt pause, reconsideration, and desire.
'Circle Jerk' investigates the human form through reduction and repetition. Discarded Tyvek is reimagined as the skin of the artwork itself. Bearing traces of use, memory, and desire, the material becomes both fetishized and estranged, a surface that simultaneously allures and unsettles.
The title references both self-gratification and its figurative counterpart, the echo chamber. Through a queer lens, the work reflects on how identities are staged, how belonging and exclusion shift, and how power inscribes itself onto matter and flesh. This dynamic is amplified by the plinth, inverted or upheld, echoing Duchamp's provocation: By reversing the pedestal one reverses the hierarchy of value." By embracing this reversal Bradstreet asks viewers to consider not only what is elevated but also what is cast down discarded or made abject in the processes of desire and cultural value."
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Gavin Bradstreet's practice is shaped by his studies in Fine Art at the National Art School and fifteen years working in fashion — different yet deeply interconnected worlds. His sculptural forms draw on processes familiar to both disciplines: sourcing materials, patternmaking, sewing, and construction. At the heart of his work lies a fascination with the curious beauty of repurposed materials, transforming what is overlooked or disregarded into forms that prompt pause, reconsideration, and desire.
'Circle Jerk' investigates the human form through reduction and repetition. Discarded Tyvek is reimagined as the skin of the artwork itself. Bearing traces of use, memory, and desire, the material becomes both fetishized and estranged, a surface that simultaneously allures and unsettles.
The title references both self-gratification and its figurative counterpart, the echo chamber. Through a queer lens, the work reflects on how identities are staged, how belonging and exclusion shift, and how power inscribes itself onto matter and flesh. This dynamic is amplified by the plinth, inverted or upheld, echoing Duchamp's provocation: By reversing the pedestal one reverses the hierarchy of value." By embracing this reversal Bradstreet asks viewers to consider not only what is elevated but also what is cast down discarded or made abject in the processes of desire and cultural value."
Go see Circle Jerk by Gavin Bradstreet 2025.
Circle Jerk by Gavin Bradstreet 2025 is on 17 October 2025 - 02 November 2025. The opening hours are: See event website for details. Conveniently located in Forrest. Call 02 6247 0188 for details. Visit their website at https://canberracontemporary.com.au.
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