ADELAIDE.- The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney holds many objects that instil a sense of wonder. Made using a wide range of materials and techniques, they seduce us with their otherworldly beauty, stimulate our imagination and shed light on how we perceive ourselves and the world.

Eva Czernis-Ryl, one of the Powerhouse’s leading curators, has developed Fantastical Worlds around major works from four artists and designers: Timothy Horn, Alexander McQueen, Timorous Beasties and Kate Rohde. Inspired by elaborate European art styles from the past such as Baroque, Rococo and Empire, they imaginatively transform historical ideas, forms and patterns into striking 21st century creations. Playful arrangements of new and old complement these artworks, revealing creative brilliance behind contemporary and historical designs.

Robert Reason, Museum Director of The David Roche Foundation said: ‘I am delighted to be working with the Powerhouse that holds Australia’s preeminent decorative arts collection, to bring Fantastical Worlds exclusively to Adelaide. I’ve admired Czernis-Ryl’s curatorial approach for many years and the exhibition’s theme resonates beautifully with David Roche’s own creation “Fermoy House” which magically transports you into a bygone era of European glamour and spectacle. Fantastical Worlds illustrates the transformative power of design across the centuries, it reawakens one’s desire for pattern and colour, and causes us to contemplate the seemingly bizarre.’

Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, Powerhouse, said: ‘We are excited to collaborate with The David Roche Foundation and I thank Robert Reason for his interest in Fantastical Worlds and shared joy in seeking new perspectives to reveal the magic and power of decorative artworks. The paintings and objects from The David Roche Foundation have enriched the exhibition with new layers of splendour, beauty and delightful quirkiness.’

Australian-American artist, Timothy Horn, is admired for his over-scaled wall sculptures such as Gorgonia 15, 2018, named after the sea-fan coral. Equally inspired by a French baroque earring pattern featuring exquisite pearls, Horn considers how nature has informed and materially shaped jewellery while drawing attention to the plight faced by coral from the impact of climate change.

Internationally acclaimed British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, is represented with an Evening dress, 2010, from one of only 16 designs from the designer’s final runway collection. Influenced by medieval arts and religion, this dress also alludes to the French Empire through its lavish use of gilt ornament. The design duo Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, behind the successful Scottish brand Timorous Beasties, developed the wallpaper Bloody Empire in 2013 to challenge the traditional meaning of the Napoleonic bee and laurel wreath emblems. Symbols of Honour and Victory, they are spattered in bloody-coloured drips to acknowledge the horrors of the Napoleonic wars.

Australian artist and designer Kate Rohde is well-known for her exuberant objects and sensory environments. Fantastical Worlds brings together her large polyurethane Deer Vase within an immersive installation her Animal wallpaper, both designed in 2016. Extravagant and glowing in colour, Rohde questions our understanding of value, preciousness and good taste.

Some one hundred works of art make up this new and larger iteration of the Fantastical Worlds exhibition. The Powerhouse ceramics, jewellery, silver, furniture, textiles and fashion are joined by European historical decorative arts and paintings from The David Roche Collection in a wondrous offering of dazzling form, ornament and colour.

Featured in the tableaus alongside the four major artists and designers are ceramics from Meissen, Sevres, Wedgwood and other leading manufacturers, antique European lace, Victorian papier-mache furniture, a superb English harp, and 18th century textiles, glass and jewellery. Also displayed is contemporary millinery by London designer Philip Treacy and jewellery by Robert Baines, Helen Britton, Peter Chang, Liv Blavarp, Bin Dixon-Smith, Jennifer Trask and Philip Sajet. Recent Powerhouse acquisitions exhibited in Fantastical Worlds include a spectacular ceramic artwork from Korean sculptor Yeesookyung, technicolour couture by Powerhouse artist-in-residence Jordan Gogos, alongside studio glass by South Australian, Tom Moore.

Fantastical Worlds is a travelling exhibition developed by the Powerhouse exclusively for The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide.