Current Exhibition

‘All of existence is based on a pulse of repetitions; the beating of the heart, the rhythm of the day, the recurrent need of the body for food and for sleep. Everyday life is repetition. In our modern society we have a strained relationship with repetitions. We pay lip service to the opposite: the innovation, the transformation, the experiential kick. But repetition is a condition of life to which we as human beings are forced to relate.’
The Magic of Repetition. An Essay by Helle Hove. Ceramics: Art and Perception, No 80. 2010

This series of works involves two disciplines: the first painting (watercolour and pastels on paper), the second sculpture (vessels made of fabric).

The paintings begin as a simple routine, the aim to complete one work daily. They are quick sketches of abstract shapes in space. The subject matter is inconsequential – a screwed-up piece of paper viewed from different angles. The colour palette is limited and the dimensions are uniform. The main focus is form, colour and light. Displayed together as a series of repetitive shapes, the images take on a softness, a flow and a rhythm, sometimes resembling organic shapes.

The sculptures are made of vintage cotton lace doilies and tablecloths cut, torn, glued and moulded over old vases, bowls and jugs. As well as repurposing materials that have had another life the works signal domestic themes and gender-based traditions. Vessels originally designed to hold water for washing or floral arrangements are rendered unusable, made of inappropriate materials. While the shapes are repetitious, variations occur in the patterning, assemblage and imperfections.

Both disciplines incorporate themes of repetition and domesticity. The paintings are intended as daily exercises – but ‘every day, life’ gets in the way. The normal distractions, and interruptions of the real world challenge routine and regulation. However, these diversions are themselves also part of daily life to be not only endured but embraced.

 ‘…artists have appropriated the routines of daily life to make poignant statements on the capacity of humans to endure.’… ‘Repetition increases your sensitivity to the small variations. It is the underlying beat that you can play against, just as you do in music. Deviation requires regularity to have something to deviate from. The system has to be there to be broken. Variation can only arise when there is a repetition to vary.’
Every Day Practices : Artists Confront Adversity. Ocula Magazine, By Anna Dickie & Elaine YJ Zheng, Singapore 23 October 2024.