Paintings and constructions by Barbara Halnan
Factory 49, 49 Shepherd St. Marrickville NSW
July 4-14
The grid has been explored in two and three dimensions.
Paintings hang from walls. Variations on the grid are made through subtle shifts of angle, and shifting values of colour, light and texture. Layers evoke a sense of depth.
Cages hang from the ceiling. Inside each, a single feather is held suspended in the centre by wire.
Meanings are evoked rather than represented.
As the artist wrote:
Flight has direct reference to a poem by Baudelaire – L’Albatross. The work is intended to relate to the ambiguity within the word “flight”. Are feathers symbolic of the whole bird trapped in the cage, or has the bird flown, leaving behind a single feather as a reminder of its previous entrapment.
The gallery director, Pam Aitkin, tells me about Gregory Ulmer, who conducts his arts research and teaching on-line, and about Christine Simpson whose art is inspired by human movement..