Art exhibition a hit, overwhelming response from patrons

The art pieces on display at the “Born from Fire — The Art of Glass and Metal” exhibition has managed to attract widespread attention and this was evident with a number of art pieces being sold already.

The exhibition, which is being held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, showcases the artistic talents and collaborative works of Shane Bower and Alice Hill which has taken the country by storm and at the forefront are two of Fiji’s most sought after and collected contemporary three dimensional artists.

Hot Glass Fiji representative Alex Hill said the main reason for hosting the exhibition was to raise the profile of art in the country.

“Since the profile of art in Fiji is not high at the moment, even though there are a lot of world class artists here and some of our crafts people are absolutely fantastic,” Mr Hill said.

“There is an amazing tradition here. Still has a low profile and it’s amazing how often when people, businesses or resorts want to get some of the art for their hotels or businesses, they tend to go overseas when this stuff are available here.

“Part of the reason for this is they aren’t aware of it. So to raise the profile in Fiji in general and the opportunity to have a collaborative contribution between Alice and Shane was the reason for this exhibition.

“This is the first time, but we hope to repeat this again in the future.

“Just planned for Suva now.

“A lot of the art from the exhibition has already been sold.

“Response has been fantastic.”

Mr Bower said his mother was an artist and he learnt from her and started to work at an engineering company dealing with metal.

“I did a course at Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT), where I learnt how to work artistically with metal,” Mr Bower said.

He added that a lot of art on display was inspired by Fiji with its resemblance to beauty and culture.

Prices of art pieces at the exhibition range from $25 to $11,060. The exhibition closes this Saturday.

Originally published in : Fiji Times, Vishaal Kumar, Thursday, October 26, 2017

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