Exhibition dates: 3rd September – 3rd October 2009
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Sacred Geometry
2009
Acrylic painted timber coat hangers, screws, staples
180 x 170cm
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
This is a mixed bag of an exhibition by Lyndal Hargrave at Anita Traverso Gallery in Richmond, Melbourne.
Despite one outstanding painting Breathing Space (2009, see below), the view from the back of the artist’s house onto a jetty with attendant wooden posts and sky, the other paintings are the weakest elements of the exhibition, lacking the strength and resonance of the sculptural work.
The two standing towers, Hairpin Dragons I & II and Jacob’s Ladder (both 2009, see below) are stronger work, Jacobs Ladder imitating the form of the painting Breathing Space in three-dimensional Cuisenaire-type coloured rods (see the installation photograph of the two pieces below).
The best pieces in the exhibition are the wall mounted geometric, mandala-like sculptures made of wooden coat hangers. Delicately shifting patterns take the micro cellular form and make it macro, their patterns of construction offering a pleasing visual balance that is both complex, layered and innovative at one and the same time. As explorations of the notion of the universal structure, the golden ratio, they reward repeated viewing.
As the exhibition stands there are too many little pieces to make a holistic whole. Perhaps an exhibition solely of the towers or geometric pieces would have been stronger. I look forward to seeing how the geometric pieces (d)evolve in future work. Will the structures break down and reassemble in other marvellous incantations? I hope so!
Dr Marcus Bunyan
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Many thankx to Anita Traverso Gallery for allowing me to publish the art work in the posting. Please click on some of the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Arabesque
2009
Acrylic painted timber coat hangers, screws, staples
200 x 360cm
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Arabesque (detail)
2009
Acrylic painted timber coat hangers, screws, staples
200 x 360cm
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Hairpin Dragons I & II
2009
Wire, formply
170 x 15cm (varying)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
“It is a constant idea of mine that behind the cotton wool (of daily reality) is hidden a pattern, that we – I mean all human beings – are connected with this: that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art.” ~ Virginia Woolf
For as long as I can remember, my art practice has served as a filter between the outside world and my inside world. I realise now that the act of making the artwork informs my ideas rather than the other way round. Working intuitively results in a continuous stream of surprises that in retrospect mirror the pressing issues surrounding me at that time.
In All the Little Pieces my fascination with patterns of construction from micro to macro and natural to man-made continues. My work explores the gap between order and chaos and helps me to understand the meaning of balance.
Using mundane found objects, my sculptures probe the possibility of re-invention through the way the componentry of human habitation can be re-configured to offer us a new way of seeing and experiencing our world.
It is this process of metamorphosis that is at the centre of my investigation: how life forms make the transition from one state to another – tree to timber to tower or talisman; why some systems remain strong and others crumble.
Overarching my work is the notion of universal structure and the geometry that has informed our evolution from molecule to macro-system.”
Lyndal Hargrave 2009
Text from the Anita Traverso Gallery website
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Whirlpool Galaxy and The Samarian Star
2009
Acrylic painted timber coat hangers, screws, staples
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the Lyndal Hargrave exhibition at Anita Traverso Gallery
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Photograph showing the relationship of form and colour between the work Jacob’s Ladder (2009) and the painting Breathing Space (2009)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Lyndal Hargrave (Australia, b. 1959)
Breathing Space
2009
Oil on canvas
200 x 200cm
Anita Traverso Gallery
The physical gallery has now closed.
PO Box 7001, Hawthorn North 3122
Phone: 0408 534 034
Email: art@anitatraversogallery.com.au
Art Blart 
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