Category Archives: malcolmkoch, membraneart,

The Unbent Curve

Malcolm Koch presents The Unbent Curve, an exhibition exploring the boundaries of structural form and surface tension. Created entirely in a curved state, Malcolm’s oil paintings and copper sheets endure immense physical stress while undulated or rolled.

This literal tension alters the behaviour of the tools, mediums, and chemicals used, fundamentally reshaping their surfaces. By applying marks, making saw cuts, and triggering chemical reactions in this restricted state, Malcolm allows time to act as a primary medium.

Once unfurled and flattened for observation, the works reveal striking, unexpected patinas and fluid landscapes—proving that flattening the surface is the very act that brings the curve to life.

Only when the work is finally unfurled and flattened for observation is the final state revealed—leaving behind striking patinas and fluid landscapes that hold the permanent memory of the curve.

Exhibition: The Unbent Curve by Malcolm Koch
Location: 44 Nelson Street, Stepney, South Australia
Run Dates: 1 August–31 August
Hours: Monday—Friday, 10am—5pm (or via private appointment)

Meander Flat is an artwork made of copper that is visible from both perspectives, but not at the same time.

About Meander Flat

Conceived and executed entirely within a restricted, curled state, Meander Flat explores the boundaries of structural form and surface tension. By forcing the canvas into tight folds, the material endures an immense physical stress that fundamentally dictates how tools, mediums, and chemistry interact.

By applying marks, saw cuts, and interconnecting holes—and triggering chemical reactions while the work was bent—the physical boundaries between the front and reverse sides are completely dissolved. Accordingly, this shared DNA erases the traditional priority of an “obverse” or “reverse” surface, empowering the viewer to decide where the artwork truly begins.

Once unfurled and flattened for observation, the work reveals a striking patina anchored by a solid, central wave—proving that the curve is born the moment the material is returned to the flat plane.

The Unbent Curve Exhibition features the illuminated copper artwork Reductionism.

About Reductionism

This work is a two-dimensional map of a three-dimensional event. Created while the copper sheet was coiled in a cylinder, a single series of drill strikes pierced through the layered metal, creating a synchronised network of voids. When unfurled, these points of impact align into two rigid vertical pillars—a visual order born from a hidden, circular geometry.

The copper artworks Chemical Weave and Unified Pulse are on display at The Unbent Curve exhibition.

About Chemical Weave

Flattened into a 2D plane, the work provides material evidence of a curve that cannot be replicated through traditional application. The synchronised drill holes and mirrored patinas are artefacts of a 3D history—a permanent record of spatial tension and chemical time captured on a singular surface.

About Unified Pulse

This work explores the intimate bond between Australia’s cool coastal waters and its sun-drenched soils, mirroring the interconnectedness of the human experience. A visual rhythm resonates across the canvas; the inland pulse and the salt-sprayed sea are a single expression. As a result, there is no definitive line between land and water and no true separation between individuals.

The copper artworks of Smouldering Cosmos and Eucalyptus Oxidised are on display at The Unbent Curve exhibition.

About Smouldering Cosmos

Sharp-edged holes appear while softer ones recede. However, many of these marks are interconnected, including the oxidised waves. Formed as a single entity within a curved spatial construct, they appear separated on the flat image plane. The artist’s fingerprints are evidence of human involvement in the unfurling process. As a result, it creates a non-linear journey that challenges our observations and encourages a deeper process of reflection.

About Eucalyptus Oxidised

This painting explores the geological evolution of the Australian landscape. Through colour, texture and oxidised verdigris. It shows the deep, long-lasting bond between the mineral-rich layered earth and the living landscape. It highlights the continuous story of structural transformation. Linking the environment’s beauty to the rugged and weathered past.

The copper artwork Symbiotic Self is on display at The Unbent Curve exhibition.

About Symbiotic Self

This copper artwork looks at human nature by balancing deep inner convictions with fleeting daily moments. Its scratched, chemical surface represents daily chaos, rubbed back to reveal a path to our core identity. Interconnected from underneath, a tight structural curl echoes our hidden internal convictions that ground the marks to the natural curve. Now unfurled and suspended over silver mirrors, the complete system proves that every fleeting mark is vital to our collective self.

Exhibition: The Unbent Curve by Malcolm Koch
Location: 44 Nelson Street, Stepney, South Australia
Run Dates: 1 August–31 August
Hours: Monday—Friday, 10am—5pm (or via private appointment)

About the process

The Copper Project is a series of work created for my SALA Festival exhibition, 2024 (South Australian Living Artist Festival). Further evolving the distinctive expressive style of Membrane Art^® – see Artist Statement. Although copper is a part of everyday lives, it has toxic properties that must be managed in a responsible way. To do this, I primarily use household products such as vinegar, salt and ammonia. Also, I minimise water usage and reuse chemical byproducts as much as practicable. Most pieces are coated with a micro-crystalline wax to slow and stop the oxidation process.

The Copper Project – works on copper sheets

Membrane Art draws inspiration from the interactions between curved profile surfaces to play a part in flat-lying ones.

Membrane Art
An evolving expression

The following shows a process:

The connectivity of curved surfaces to contribute to the observed flat-lying appearance is the driving force behind the Copper Project. These pieces, which have been evolving since 2004, extend that concept to copper surfaces.

This displays the finished piece after it has been completely flattened out and attached to a support frame. The piece’s interconnected drill holes and staining produce a textured landscape, and each sculptural mark suggests energy through the interaction of shadows and puncture marks. It should be noted that every expression was created on the canvas’ reverse side, emphasising a distinct type of expression that arises.

Creating a different kind of abstraction is born out of a need to sculpturally define our multi-dimensional universe. It shows a world that we cannot observe directly, yet we know it exists. Therefore, the meaning may appear latent, but the premise and execution of the artwork are far from it. Like a particle that can appear in many places at once, reciprocal markings appear as unique expressions that provide content and dynamic relationships made possible through the use of a curve structure.

We are limited by our perceived reality — we remain trapped on the surface of a flat universe. Although we may try to ‘jazz it up’, overconceptualise and garner attention with meaningful issues, it is not what interests me as an artist. Rather, I prefer to allow expression to exist through provoking a different kind of beauty. To allow it to naturally manifest and contradict known assumptions.

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Open Gallery/Studio
Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm
Weekends available on request

The Copper Project
Malcolm Koch’s Art Gallery
44 Nelson Street (use back entrance via Malcolm Koch Design)
Stepney, Adelaide, South Australia
Malcolm 0419 864 987

See more on my Instagram account: Membrane_Art

SALA Festival 2022 – Entry number 117

Gallery showing paintings on wall — Membrane Art Gallery

SALA Festival

The South Australian Living Artist (SALA) Festival is a statewide annual event showcasing a range of artists throughout August. It was established in 1998 to promote and celebrate the many talented visual artists in South Australia. The aim was – and remains – to extend visual arts audiences and, as an umbrella organisation, to have a continued policy of inclusiveness, allowing all South Australian visual artists of any level and working in any medium to play a part.

Double Story exhibition

After several years of participation, this year Malcolm Koch’s exhibition will showcase a range of works, including his latest series called ‘Double Story’. The idea where one ‘expression’ creates many — intertwined within the same plane and its reverse side — with an equal degree of value. Being able to interchange to the ‘other’ side creates a co-dependent relationship from one to the other, which may be viewed as completing the experience.

That said. Not getting the whole picture in one go is part of the human condition. This work offers a glimpse of the whole. However, we can only observe the work from one side at a time. Therefore, describing something that’s the same for both sides, regardless of which side you‘re on, is a realisation that our inability to engage with its entirety is real. Nevertheless, it is through the inverse (reciprocal expressions) that truth is revealed. That there are two sides to every story, yet it is all one.

Malcolm's SALA guide entry — SALA guide entry number 117

SALA Festival 2022
1 – 31 August 2022
Mon–Fri: 10am–5pm

Opening event 7 August (Sunday) 12 – 4pm
RSVP mobile: 0419864987

Malcolm Koch’s art space
Visit Malcolm Koch’s personal studio and art space. See a range of paintings on display and stored on the premises.

Monday – Friday: 10am – 5pm
44 Nelson Street, Stepney
8362 2088 or mobile 0419 864 987

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On the foreshore — Brighton Jetty Sculptures, 2020

I’m proud to have two of my pieces, Close To Water and Quantum Sunray, selected to be included in this annual event.

Each year, Brighton Jetty Sculptures raises funds for the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club volunteers. On display for 12 days, don’t miss out on seeing over 200 sculpted works by many South Australian and national artists.

Entered under the newly developed category, Relief/Wall-hung Sculpture, I believe this describes what my work is about.

Patritti Brighton Jetty Sculptures
January 22 to February 2, 2020
Brighton Beach, South Australia
Open 8—8pm most days
www.brightonjettyclassicsculptures.com

*Front on view: Close To Water, oil paint on JPP Synthetic, 905 gsm. Floating on silver acrylic-mirror strips and adhered to a 3mm back panel with 12mm spacers, 789h x 1072w x 40d mm*

Square Root of an Expression (*Quantum Sunray), detail, 824h x 732w x 40d mm*

*Front on view: Square Root of an Expression* (*Quantum Sunray), Oil paint on JPP Synthetic, 905 gsm. Floating on silver acrylic-mirror strips and adhered to a 3mm back panel with 12mm spacers, 824h x 732w x 40d mm*

You will find my work in the large white marquee. Located on Bindarra Reserve, which is on the northern side of the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.

My artist statement and description of the work

My curved canvases are worked on as three-dimensional objects. However, rather than considering the interplay between solid and space as a sculptor does, my forethought is to return to the ‘flat two-dimensional picture plane’. As this reflects our ingrained version of reality. That we are tied to a flat universe yet entangled with all its probabilities in the vastness of infinite space.

The ‘nothing’ tied to the cosmos!

Distinct and reciprocal cavities develop when mark making events are created on curved structures. So that when it is transformed to the flattened observed form, a truth about the human condition emerges – that we are tied to a 2D universe yet entangled in all its probabilities in the vastness of infinite space.

Here are a number of pieces that will go on display at my coming exhibition at Little Bang Brewing. Details to be confirmed.

*Oil on JPP Synthetic, set off a blue-mirrored back panel with 12mm spacers.*

*Oil on JPP Synthetic, set off a gold-mirrored back panel with 12mm spacers.*

Helium Sculpture

This double-sided framed sculpture will go on display at my coming exhibition at Little Bang Brewing (25 Henry Street, Stepney, South Australia). Details to be confirmed.