The exhibition Inside out: space and process presents two Melbourne sculptors from different generations, born 50 years apart, who evidence an enduring concern with material, process, and abstraction. Erwin Fabian and Anne-Marie May use a range of found and fabricated media to explore the poetic correlations between surface, substance and space through intuitive and experimental processes.

Erwin Fabian was born in Berlin in 1915, and arrived in Australia in 1940. Influenced by Abstract Expressionism and working mainly with steel and plastics, Fabian’s sculptural practice was typified by the assemblage and transformation of industrial and agricultural machinery. Sadly Fabian died in January 2020 during the development of this exhibition.

Born in 1965, Anne-Marie May lives and works in Melbourne. She uses diverse materials to undertake explorations of colour, abstraction and space. May has exhibited since the late 1980s, and was a member of the influential artist-run space Store 5 in Melbourne.

Images: Inside out – space and process: Erwin Fabian and Anne-Marie May , installation views, McClelland. Photos Christian Capurro.