Fiona Hall, Nelumbo Nucifere; Araliya (Sinhala); Malliya Poo (Tamil); Frangipani/Temple Tree "Paradisus Terrestrist" Sri Lankin Series, 1999Aluminium, Tin
26 x 18 x 4 cm
Fiona Hall has many differing art making practices, ranging from photography to sculpture, however for her series "Paradisus Terrestrist," she has sculpted discarded golden sardine tin cans, "embellished with meticulous carving and engraving."1 By taking the ordinariness of everyday materials and transforming them, Hall is able to create artworks, which serve as metaphors for the messages she explores.2 In "Paradisus Terrestrist," Hall has filigreed intricate sacred plant on top of the partially opened cans, which have embossed naked body parts on them3 in order to comment upon mankind's relationship with nature and how they are co-dependant. Hall has said of her work in "Paradisus Terrestrist," "you can make something look very delicate and extremely rich out of what otherwise would be a discarded item."4
filigreed - a form of ornamentation, usually formed by gold or silver twisted wire.
"Visual Instincts: Contemporary Australia Photography", Fiona Hall, in Max Pam (ed.), AGPS Press, Canberra, ACT, 1989, p. 13
Rosalie Gascoigne, Magpie, 1998
Sawn wood on wood
55 x 54 cm
Rosalie Gascoigne had no formal art training, but was however schooled in the Japanese flower arranging tradition of Ikebana1, with the techniques she learnt greatly influencing her later assemblage work. She would create small assemblages of objects she found while on scavenging expeditions in the Canberra hinterland2 out of her "deep desire to surround herself with beauty."3 By taking these old wooden packing crates and weathered scraps of timber and ordering them in a carefully thought out and proportionate way, Gascoigne was able to simultaneously bring out the history in these items while still allow the audience to see them in a new light. Gascoigne said of her art making practice that she would "combine things until they (had) a presence."4
1
2
"Rosalie Gascoigne", Vici MacDonald, edoted by Steve Bush. Regaro, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998
4
"Artwise Visual Arts 7 - 10", Glennis Israel, Jacaranda, Milton, Queensland, 1997, p. 79
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