Exhibition outline:
circle/square is an exhibition featuring the work of five Sydney based artists whose work focuses on abstraction. Each artists uses either the circle or the square as a motif or compositional element with an emphasis on different approaches to material, merging the boundaries between painting, sculpture and installation. The work featured comprises two floor works (Kate Mackay and Francesca Mataraga), a room installation (Pam Aitken), one wall installation (Liz Shreeve) and 13 wall works (Liz Shreeve, Kate Mackay, Marlene Sarroff and Pam Aitken). Collectively the work addresses a unique approach to creating non objective abstract work by using traditional and non–traditional materials assembled as installation.
Kate Mackay works with textiles and cardboard in order to create ‘soft’ sculptures that reference hard edge abstraction and minimalist sculpture through sculptural form. Both playful and highly structured, Mackay’s work extends the use of textiles in hard edge abstraction. Intricate patterns and the physicality of each cube create a kaleidoscopic array of color and shape. Mackay’s work creates tension through the juxtaposition of material and form. Her accompanying paintings add an additional dimension to the circle/square theme.
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| Kate MACKAY - Large Cube, cardboard and yarn, 180cm x 180cm x 180cm, 2009 |
Liz Shreeve’s work addresses light as a conceptual premise and physical reality. By using the grid as a primary compositional structure, her reliefs allow colour (applied as a painted surface) to become the focus of contemplation. Describing her own work in her 2008 catalogue the artist states that her work is about light, colour and perception. Shreeve’s work achieves effect through subtlety. Her squares appear as simple compositional device yet create a dynamic colour effect.
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| Liz SHREEVE - Light Boxes, 2008 |
Marlene Sarroff’s installation pieces Untitled present a sensual approach to abstraction by creating small circular units from recycled materials. Each wheel or circle confronts the viewer with an onslaught of colour. Vibrant and exuberant Sarroff’s pieces abound with both colour and tactility. Their textural nature beckons the viewer to touch them and reveals an ever unfolding intricacy in their construction. Each circle becomes a cosmos of colour drawing us into the depths of the particular pigment used.
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| Marlene SARROFF |
Francesca Mataraga’s installation The Abstrakt Landscape presents a work that is re-configured as a unique composition each time it is exhibited. The work tries to transform traditional concepts of geometric abstraction into a three–dimensional painting or drawing. Taking the form of a three-dimensional collage the work is both compressed and expansive. Referencing painting, sculpture and architecture in it’s physical construction this piece is both static and mutable. Each time it is re-created it is slightly different yet essentially the same. Each time the viewer surveys the piece, new and different shapes, shadows and images emerge. Part modernist, part minimalist, part concrete work, The Abstrakt Landscape tries to create a synthesis of abstraction by merging styles, disciplines and materials.
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| Francesca MATARAGA, Fragments from Yellow, Level 17 Artspace, 2010, mixed media, dimensions variable |
Pam Aitken’s Untitled (Installation) and accompanying Untitled paintings offer a whimsical take on the theme of circle/square. Casually draped through the space the installation appears as a magical shower of colored circles. Bringing light and movement into the gallery Aitken’s work activates the space it is situated in and creates a dynamic flow. Accompanied by two small canvases made of the same material, the work is extended into the realm of painting. Aitken plays with light, movement and material. Her circles and squares entice us into the gallery and lead us through a journey of discovery.
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| Pam AITKEN kate-mackay.blogspot.com Education MVA, BA, Grad Dip(Visual Arts) Sydney College of the Arts (USyd) Selected Exhibitions 2010 Factory 49, CarriageWorks, Index Studios, Linden (Melb), ATVP, Fishers Ghost Awards, Libris Awards 2009 Factory 49, Level 17, Paris CONCRET (Paris), Liverpool & Blacktown Art Awards, Woollahra Small Sculpture 2008 Factory 49, Newcastle Uni Gallery, Blacktown Art Award, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2007 Factory 49, Carnegie Gallery (Tas), Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2006 Factory 49, Tin Sheds Gallery, 2005 Cross Arts Projects, SNO Showroom, Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award 2004 Cross Arts Projects, MOP Gallery, Song Company Project 2003 Front Room 2000 Gallery 4A, Joe’s Sydney, MVA Exhibition  Liz Shreeve Education BFA (Hons) (NAS), BSc (Hons) UNSW Selected Exhibitions 2011 Art Almanac Exhibition Space, Glebe 2010 Level 17 Artspace; Victoria University, CarriageWorks, Melbourne Art Fair 2010 Colour Processing; Factory 49 (Sydney) 2009 Boxing Light; Factory 49, Bell St ( 2009 Paint, Stella Downer Fine Art (Sydney), Windows on Pain ( 2008 Catching the Light; Factory 49, Transitions 08; Mary Place Gallery, Glebe Art Show 2007 Light Constructions; Factory 49, Xavier Artspace (Darlinghurst), 2007 Light on the Grid; Stella Downer Fine Art, Watermark; Transitions 07. 2006 Blake Exceptions, Transitions, 2005 MCQ International Art Prize (  Marlene SARROFF http:// www.marlenesarroff.comEducation B Art Theory, COFA UNSW. Master of Art SCA U SYD Selected Exhibitions2010 Disruptive Elements, Factory 49, Sydney. N.S.W. 2010 Redefining Painting, Hebel 121, Basel, Switzerland 2010 Dispersion, ParisCONCRET, Paris France. 2009 Patterns of Probabilities, Factory 49, Sydney N.S.W. 2008 Pulse, Factory 49. Sydney N.S.W. 2006 The Dissolving World: Patterns in Transition, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, N.S.W. 2005 Emergence, Graphis Gallery, Woollahra, Sydney. N.S.W. 2004 Phase Space, Esa Jaske Gallery, Chippendale Sydney N.S.W. 2002 Codify-Code Defy The Depot Gallery, Dank Street, Waterloo, Sydney N.S.W.  Francesca MATARAGA http://francescamataraga.com/ Education PhD (COFA) - Current, MFA (COFA), BFA (NAS), BA (USyd) Selected Exhibitions 2010 Level 17 2009 The 2008 Ivan Dougherty Gallery, George Paton Gallery, 2007 2006 Tin Sheds Gallery 2005 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Peloton 2004 The Year in Art - S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Cross Art Projects, The 4th Floor Gallery 2003 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, 52nd Blake Prize 2002 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award  http://www.pamaitken.com.au Education MVA (SCA,USyd), BVA (HONS) (SCA,USyd) Selected Exhibitions 2011 2010 Hebel_121, Switz; 2009 Holtzman MFA Gallery, Towson, USA; Bell St, Vienna; ParisCONCRET, Paris; CarriageARTSworks, Sydney 2008 Connie Dietzschold Gallery, 2007 Gary Snyder Fine Arts, 2006 Salon des Réalitiés Nouvelles, Paris; La Baralliere, Tulette, France; SNO, Sydney; Hebel_121, Switz; Factory 49 2005 Tin Sheds Gallery, 2004 Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney; Artspace, Sydney; Moores Gallery, Fremantle, WA; MOP Gallery, Sydney 2003 MOP Gallery,  Circle/Square is supported by |
Circle/Square is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW
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