We had a great day in the city when we wandered with our friend Karen (she of the magnificent Library at Green Square) to White Rabbit Gallery.
The Gallery is contemporary, glorious, staffed by wonderful people and shows the astonishing personal collection of Judith Neilson.
The exhibitions are in place for about 5-6 months so there is the opportunity to go back again and again if needed.
This exhibition is called Shuo Shu - stories reveal themselves to those who are open.
The exhibition is curated so that you start on the top floor and wend your way down - three floors and each floor is dedicated to a particular element of storytelling.
These rocks by Gu Wenda, are hand carved with intentionally hybridised calligraphic characters wrapping around them. The twenty four stones represent the seasons of the ancient Chinese lunisolar calendar. The artist suggests that the work reflects on our modern distance from the cycles of the natural world. It was awe-inspiring and so beautifully presented in this darkened room. One could wander inside the circle, around the circle, between the stones...
Also on this floor was the work of Yang Wei-Lin. She likes literature, but says " I cannot use words for writing, they give me too much pressure". And so she turns to textile art to tell stories in another language.
The middle floor inspired me least; but I did fall quietly in love with these painted panels by Chen Danqing..
The ground floor simply took my breath away. We wandered into it first and got completely absorbed, and then learned that we should start at the top. I had no idea what the exhibition was about when we arrived, we just moved in to this space and I was stunned into silence. A moment of clarity and I realised what they were!
I was kind of thrilled that we got a second look at them when we arrived at the ground floor after our travels down.
Density 1-6 by Liu Wei have the appearance of stone but...they are made from compressed textbooks that have been cut into smooth, minimalist shapes. Simply stunning.
And here we both are in front of the globe. Still masking up in public...
sadly, having worked in a university library, I can well imagine the volume of discarded books that would be needed to make such massive sculptures ... but the truth is that the contents of books can become less valuable than the forms within which they reside
ReplyDeletecouldn't help but think of Barry's book wall and your folded book sculptures that weathered in your garden as further illustrations of that truth ...
Some books will always be valuable receptacles; but often they do become redundant, as text books get updated and the online resources become more used. The scale of projects like this and the compression required to almost transform all of that paper to near concrete just dazzles me!
Delete((((Fiona))) thank you for these beautiful photos of a fabulous exhibition, have been in twice so far, will need to see it again & again. Visiting White Rabbit Gallery is always a mind altering transformative & challenging experience, Judith Neilson has given Sydney a great gift.
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing resource to have nearby Mo - and I am sure there is always something that does all of those things on each visit. An astonishing gift as you say...go well
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