MWF Fellowship Winner for 2024

— Andrew Delaney —

“Frankenstein”

In its inaugural year, the Marc Wasiak Foundation announces Andrew Delaney as the 2024 Winner of the $10,000 Fellowship Grant to assist his creative endeavours and help carve a successful creative career path that will establish industry recognition and success.

“Winning this generous inaugural Marc Wasiak Foundation grant means that after 5 long years of trying to get this exhibition off the ground, I can finally set wheels in motion.

It’s a great opportunity to carry on Gerard and Marc’s legacy to create and inspire through the beauty of
art, fashion and fantasy.”

In 2011 Delaney left full-time work to pursue his art opening his studio Anno Domini Home in the Nicholas Building in Melbourne’s CBD – joining a community of artisans and artists, in one of the city’s most established and beloved creative hubs. Anno Domini Home is Delaney’s workshop but also acts as a showcase of his creations and how they relate to each other. The studio brings a sense of theatre to the objects on show, becoming a destination in its own right for those seeking out something singular and a little macabre.

Using vintage and unwanted fabrics I explore the notion of life’s vulnerabilities and our mortality. Layers of fabric become flesh and bone, muscles and sinew. Visitors to “Anno Domini Home” then overlay their own stories and emotions – my creations take on new meaning through this interaction.

Born in the Western District of Victoria in 1966, artist Andrew Delaney moved to Melbourne in 1986 and studied for two years at the Melbourne College of Decoration. This included photography, technical and life drawing, and studies in graphics. After leaving college, Delaney worked for a decade at the retail institution Myer Melbourne, as a visual merchandiser and stylist – designing displays in fashion, homewares, craft, and cosmetics. Delaney also spent his time creating many works of photography and painting.

Post his time at Myer, Delaney moved into the corporate events industry working as an art director and principal stylist for a range of clients. Sewn objects, scenic painting, finished art, renderings for presentation of floral designs, mood boards, and overseeing the completion of work in a large production warehouse, were some of the briefs he took on for clients.

Upon Anno Domini Home’s inception, Delaney wrote a declaration for those coming to call at his studio. After countless works conceived and unleashed it remains the raison d'être for his work. The sentiment is echoed in each piece he creates, and draws the observer to the same conclusions, all through the sensory comfort of textiles:

What I hope to do and share is my love of things that some may consider morbid or a little dark. Beautiful things surround us, but not everything has to be pretty and bright to possess its splendour.

The glimmering of dust on a torn book jacket, rising damp unfurling its way across a bedroom wall, cobwebs draped upon a long abandoned toy – all tell us that time is moving on and the glory days of our youth are indeed behind us.

Darker things tend to stop people, but rather than contemplate ‘graven’ images or objects, they hurriedly turn away and refuse to face them. I'm talking about death and the end of life of course.

Most of the world celebrates death, glorifies it. The most important artworks all allude to it. Whether it's portraiture or iconic deities, cameo's or something more personal, they all evoke someone dear and long past.

These “Memento Mori” serve as a constant reminder of how wonderful a person’s life is and that their departure does not mean they will not live on – in our hearts and in our memories they remain eternal.

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