STROBED
A place to see a few photos and a few words about Sydney art exhibitions when you can't get there yourself. Or when you want to see photos of yourself on the internet.
Traces of Nature [galleryeight]
when: Exhibition launch Tuesday 7 September 2010, 6-9pm. Exhibition continues until Thursday 23 September 2010.
cost: Free.
where: galleryeight, 12 Argyle Place, Millers Point.
From galleryeight:
Galleryeight is proud to present TRACES OF NATURE, a joint show by Cathy Drew and Jennie Holtsbaum.
Please join is for drinks with the artists on Tuesday September 7 from 6pm.
We tend to think of decorating our homes as a frivolous act without much meaning beyond our personal tastes. But for these artists, the act of using Australian motifs in the context of interior decoration is an act loaded with meaning. It can be an instrume…nt of preservation – or an act of subjugation.
Jennie Holtsbaum sees pattern as a way of preserving Australian flora and fauna. Using the idiosyncratic shape of local plants and animals, Holtsbaum creates new forms that combine local shapes with European decorative forms. Her work asks if these plants and animals are going to last. With changes in our environment, will the only evidence of the existence of these plants and animals be a ‘trace’ in the form of a fossilised outline, or a decorative pattern?
Cathy Drew also looks at Australian nature through the filter of decorative arts, but for her the act of rendering Nature as decoration is an act of control, stemming from the naivety of early European settlers. Decoration is associated with the comfort and status of a good home. By combining Australian nature with Western decorative forms the Northern and Southern Hemispheres collide, making bizarre and unfamiliar animals seem harmless and distant to newly settled European Australians.