Theo Koning: Object Syntax

ABOUT THE EVENT

Theo Koning: Object Syntax presents a focused display of works from the State Art Collection by Theo Koning (1950-2022), one of Western Australia’s leading-edge figures working in installation and process-oriented art.

Centred around his influential 1974 installation The hot chook shop, the exhibition is timed to run alongside the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre’s retrospective exhibition Objet d’Art: Theo Koning and his Creative Self, which explores the artist’s five-decade career.

Koning’s practice emerged from an intentionally local perspective, recognising broad international influences while focusing on the physical and social aspects of his immediate landscape, community and personal experiences. The hot chook shop operates in this local/global nexus, as “sort of a poke at the Kentucky Fried outfit,” as Koning commented in 1976.

Exhibited alongside The hot chook shop is a selection of Koning’s works from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. This includes pieces from his 1978 Object D’art series, as well as drawings and prints from the mid-1980s. Through these works, Koning examined the meanings attributed to objects when designated as art, exploring how their significance can shift through intervention, reinterpretation, or the introduction of alternative contextual language.

Compelled by the act of making and grounded in a tactile, hands-on approach, Koning had a distinct ability to produce works that were at once bold and delicate, perplexing and charming, amusing and serious. Though Theo Koning: Object Syntax highlights a concentrated yet significant early period of his work, he sustained a prolific arts practice over five decades, continuing to make work until his passing in 2022. He leaves behind a rich legacy that is attentive to the nuance and intimacy of objecthood.