Exhibition - Jos Van Hulsen - Sarah Watt - Jacqueline Flitcroft
An exhibition at Brightspace for Jos van Hulsen - Sarah Watt and Jacqueline Flitcrofts work.
Exhibition: 26 August - 5 September 2010
Once upon a time the extraordinary polymath and talented artist Leonardo da Vinci – a true ‘Renaissance man’ – was fascinated by the possibilities of human flight and spent many an hour researching, drawing and experimenting with ways to make it happen.
Hundreds of years later, with the notion of flight taken for granted by many in today’s world, and using various means – from aeroplane, helicopter, micro-light, glider and hang-glider to sky-diving and the more recent form of base-jumping in wingsuits – the three artists in this exhibition were, in a strangely synchronous way, and before any discussions of a having a group exhibition, each producing works derived from their own interests, concerns and/or interpretations regarding the same topic.
Though they found themselves sharing certain ideas about flight – such as metamorphosis, travel, adventure, freedom, the simultaneous experience of isolation and connectedness – as themes they are somewhat subdued in the works and in the exhibition as a whole. The highlight of the exhibition is, rather, the contrast in their individual responses to the notion of flight and the ideas each of them explore in their works, which differ quite substantially. This is not only reflected in the wide range of mediums they deploy but in their processes of production – from small scale, poetic and almost intimate works on paper to large, direct and sometimes daunting sculptures. Overall it makes for an interestingly diverse exhibition that presents a rich variety of perspectives of or relating to flight…
From the ground looking up, some of Watt’s hybrid photo-paintings depict ethereal birds flying elegantly across the vast, open and occasionally dramatic skies of Footscray or the quietude of a house sitting in the street in the half-light of dusk which is only experienced at certain times of the year.
From the sky looking down, Flitcroft’s works - made by binding and wrapping 3D-forms in Japanese hand-made paper that fit inside a frame like a delicate, poetic jigsaw puzzle - refer to the patterns of the acres of farm-land she sees when flying overhead in her micro-light near Bendigo.
And Van Hulsen’s sculptural forms and photo-collages present flight as an exploration of a variety of complex concepts as ‘forms that fly’ - for example, his camouflage insect-aeroplanes explore the idea that the transportation of some bacteria and viruses across the planet can be more deadly than a WWII bomb.
Not only is the widely interpreted notion of ‘flight’ a richly interesting topic to think about today, but the works, the ideas being explored, and those they elicit, will surely form the basis of some very interesting discussion.
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