Verging Threshholds

Verging Thresholds/Artist statement

The task of the shaman is to traverse thresholds between virtual and actual. Artist as shaman, shaman as that part of ourselves which is able to unhitch from categories, names, words, concepts and let go of the territorialised self.

The works focus on those points of transition; the territorializing of matter, when material begins to embody the matter.

Two areas of investigation:

Territory in relationships and extinction of species.

Investigations are twofold:

Ecological; the actual matter [material used is non-recyclable, up-cycled, salvaged and matter which holds significant symbols]

Socially; acceptance of personal tendencies and capacities resulting in the establishing and maintaining of healthy boundaries.

VIRTUALLY ACTUAL
Board, corrugated cardboard, thread, tissue paper, inks, metal powder

ENOUGH

Corrugated cardboard, printed paper, non and recyclable detritus, wig, thread and sequins

AND/AWE

Cut archival paper and ink

GOOD FENCES MAKE GOOD NEIGHBOURS [BRICS] 

Board, salvaged wood, tissue paper, collected objects, thread, metal leaf, metal powders and ink

RED NOONOO
Non-recyclable inorganic matter, polyester thread, pins, laminated corrugated cardboard, found linoleum

[MOMMY WHAT’S A FETISH] WHY CAN’T I BE YOU?

Cut archival print

http://www.eclecticadesignandart.co.za/

Verging Thresholds   

This exhibition explores the concept of being surrounded by various 'indications' of potential change, these transformative moments of change that are on the verge or at a threshold. 

Each participating artists' experiences the idea of 'threshold' and how it manifests in their work and this process becomes the artwork for exhibiting. The theme becomes subliminal in the work of Sue Greef and Mark Rautenbach who each play with boundaries and experience. Lars Fischedick theoretically unpacks the terms as he branches into a new space of working, while Chris Denovan is pushing and shifting through his ideas of process in creating.

The theme relates back to the liminal whereby liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold") is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of rituals. It speaks to the process of moving from one state of being to another, much like the act of making and also viewing artwork. These notions fit nicely in line with Anthony Evans's paintings that question depictions of reality and fiction. The work on the show speaks of possibility, change and the fragility of decisions. Aleta Michelatos looks into the mystical and the astronomical in her process-based creations that aesthetically seem to venture out of this work and explore different dimensions!

The idea of exhibiting in a gallery space reflects the idea of the threshold, as there are multiple possibilities and multiples directions for the artists and the viewer and the spaces in which they meet, metaphorically or physically. The liminality of the gallery space can be reflected in the unpacking of the process and ritual of creating work and in the moments that surround us constantly – chosen by some to be ignored and others to create masterpieces out of!