Lyn Guinibert
Caitlyn Porteous
Emma Fraser
Natasha Pearl
Thomas Stewart
Emma Macfarlane
Ze Groupe.
I arrived at the opening of Bypassed Territory a little bit more refreshed after the stress of mid-years being over and the greater amount of sleep that I had managed to catch. This made for a good art seeing mood. So far so good?
Group five decided to do a similar thing as the last show in which they too closed off the other end of the gallery. That poor end is probably feeling slightly under utilised. Fair enough though, it's an awkward space. With that being said, there were six people instead of the sparse four we had before, and surprisingly, it was just as clean as the previous exhibition.
It was noted from the very beginning that each member in this particular group had a very neat aesthetic with the exception being Emma F's work, but even here, her gestural mapping was slightly understated. It could be easy then to 'bypass' a lot of the work, seeing as at least half of it blended in with the architecture. Colour wise, there really was none, only the worn out hues of Lyn's towels (which wasn't important in the reading) versus Natasha's photography (where colour was important). The cleanliness made for a visually cohesive show.
Like I had mentioned in a previous post, Thomas had set himself some building tasks, and the fruits of such were clearly successful in the space. His pared back constructions garnered a lot of interaction, with people having to go inside and outside the gallery in order to view the work in its entirety. Even then, his ability to place things in your way, so you were just that bit too far out to get a closer look, was a clever manipulation of bodily relationships between viewer, architecture and sculpture. It could almost be a ridicule of the space in a way. Kind of like he knows that Gallery 3’s railings are both an optical and physical annoyance. It also worked nicely in conversation with Emma Macfarlane’s boxes. She talks of similar ideas (inner/outer space) yet with a different type of meticulousness, more fragile.
Caitlyn’s works are always made from a culmination of an obsessive spending of one’s time. I admire her work ethic, having watched her painstakingly laying down white thread last year for three days straight, only to have it ruined by opening night (she didn’t even cry!), goes to show how her work is very much about the process of art-making, with the product being a testament to such. Although I felt this piece was a little too static in that particular corner of the gallery, I do see it as another extension of the ‘bypassing’ theme they have going here. It was hard to get a good look of it with the light silver marker pen and the bloody railings in the way (yet again!).
Lyn’s towel sculpture were probably too contained. I understood that it used the idea of balance to exist the way it does, yet its presence was not as flimsy as it seemed. There was a lack of danger with it falling down due to it’s positioning in the gallery, leaving it hard to interact with, kept safely enclosed instead in its corner. Coming back the next day, Thomas did remark that it seemed a little ‘flatter’. Maybe its undoing is in the sense of time rather than that of a physical body. However, resin is still a very permanent material. I wonder whether the towels could have been starched in shape, then left to slowly fall. This could have been a further play on her interests in memory and time.
I liked the role Natasha's photographs had in guiding the viewer through the gallery and around other works. It made for a good 'glue' and mental breathing space.
Overall, this was a well thought out show. Five down, Two to go!
- Agnes
I arrived at the opening of Bypassed Territory a little bit more refreshed after the stress of mid-years being over and the greater amount of sleep that I had managed to catch. This made for a good art seeing mood. So far so good?
Group five decided to do a similar thing as the last show in which they too closed off the other end of the gallery. That poor end is probably feeling slightly under utilised. Fair enough though, it's an awkward space. With that being said, there were six people instead of the sparse four we had before, and surprisingly, it was just as clean as the previous exhibition.
It was noted from the very beginning that each member in this particular group had a very neat aesthetic with the exception being Emma F's work, but even here, her gestural mapping was slightly understated. It could be easy then to 'bypass' a lot of the work, seeing as at least half of it blended in with the architecture. Colour wise, there really was none, only the worn out hues of Lyn's towels (which wasn't important in the reading) versus Natasha's photography (where colour was important). The cleanliness made for a visually cohesive show.
Like I had mentioned in a previous post, Thomas had set himself some building tasks, and the fruits of such were clearly successful in the space. His pared back constructions garnered a lot of interaction, with people having to go inside and outside the gallery in order to view the work in its entirety. Even then, his ability to place things in your way, so you were just that bit too far out to get a closer look, was a clever manipulation of bodily relationships between viewer, architecture and sculpture. It could almost be a ridicule of the space in a way. Kind of like he knows that Gallery 3’s railings are both an optical and physical annoyance. It also worked nicely in conversation with Emma Macfarlane’s boxes. She talks of similar ideas (inner/outer space) yet with a different type of meticulousness, more fragile.
Caitlyn’s works are always made from a culmination of an obsessive spending of one’s time. I admire her work ethic, having watched her painstakingly laying down white thread last year for three days straight, only to have it ruined by opening night (she didn’t even cry!), goes to show how her work is very much about the process of art-making, with the product being a testament to such. Although I felt this piece was a little too static in that particular corner of the gallery, I do see it as another extension of the ‘bypassing’ theme they have going here. It was hard to get a good look of it with the light silver marker pen and the bloody railings in the way (yet again!).
Lyn’s towel sculpture were probably too contained. I understood that it used the idea of balance to exist the way it does, yet its presence was not as flimsy as it seemed. There was a lack of danger with it falling down due to it’s positioning in the gallery, leaving it hard to interact with, kept safely enclosed instead in its corner. Coming back the next day, Thomas did remark that it seemed a little ‘flatter’. Maybe its undoing is in the sense of time rather than that of a physical body. However, resin is still a very permanent material. I wonder whether the towels could have been starched in shape, then left to slowly fall. This could have been a further play on her interests in memory and time.
I liked the role Natasha's photographs had in guiding the viewer through the gallery and around other works. It made for a good 'glue' and mental breathing space.
Overall, this was a well thought out show. Five down, Two to go!
- Agnes
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