The humour and familiarity in Jarrad's work cunningly disguise the incredible detail and technique involved in actualising these objects. Congrats Jarrad!
Jarrad Kennedy makes the fabled milk crate and other things from cardboard. He makes bread crates and broken musical instruments too. In this show there is also a plastic cork from a bottle of Passion Pop and a busted stereo speaker.
The theme is abandonment. Highly useful items that have fallen into disrepair, or in the crates’ case, disuse. Or is it misuse? The crate is the central cipher in his work and in his imagination and it is a magical object in the urban landscape, shapeshifting, re-appearing, constantly being appropriated by people other than the rightful owner for exponential uses.
In many ways it is the most functional object in the city – like a cork, like a ukulele or drum – and I think this is why Jarrad wants to re-imagine the crate in cardboard in varying scales for his strange, interesting art.
In the cardboard reconstructions he imagines ghosts and also memories. Like cicada shells. But he also sees them as human, somehow; torsos, heads. Vessels, if you like. Empty vessels, waiting to be filled and given a job to do.
Chris Johnston, The Age.
For more info on Jarrad and his work go to jarradkennedy.blogspot.com
