EQUIVALENCE: Tied to this space Gaye Jurisich and Diane Scott
‘Art does not reproduce the visible but makes it visible’. Paul Klee.
In this collaborative work, artists Gaye Jurisich and Diane Scott use simple everyday materials to evoke and provoke memory. But is memory something tangible or simply a flickering suggestion? And what is this urge to reconstruct from simply a trace? In the hands of these experienced artists the line – taut, entwined, sagging or broken – is full of possibilities. Given the decision to use only linear materials, it is not outside the bounds of the imagination to consider both a narrative forming as well as an abstract concept. Just as memory is not exclusively a willed activity with a set of instructions, nor is the action that takes place in this neutral space rote in any way.
An installation such as this is initially about production, the exchange of ideas about such intangibles as shared intent, ownership and understanding of how they want the work to occupy space but also about challenge. Many of these decisions will have been discussed beforehand but when in the space, surrounded by the materials they have chosen, is about trust, experience and a willingness to work as one, albeit it in two parts, that must be nurtured. The challenge to use a linear construction within a space with volume opens up a dialogue somewhere between architecture, drawing and performance. During the install, should a camera have been hidden I believe we would see a piece of eloquent choreography. There would be slowness and frenzy, high energy and a rest, decision making and questioning but above all an exchange, often non-verbal, between two artists making difficult and risky decisions. While the viewer is removed from this process, just as one is not present while a painting is being made, we are given the opportunity to see along a thread, through a space, and into a somewhat unstable ‘in between’ dimension if we allow ourselves to be fully ‘within’ the work. It is a work that offers rewards.
The process used to create this effect has a formal beginning with established protocols of process and construction. The concept has been discussed, the materials have been selected, the wall has been drawn up, and the artists aware of what happens in the shared, back and forth process of assembly. The linear materials – thread, string, rope, wire – not only create a floating two-dimensional drawing but act as a metaphor for connection and equivalence. Both artists have an innate understanding of materials, surface and three-dimensional space, however what is core to the shared process is conversation, articulation and clarity about the organic nature of working together. Both are forthright artists however I see no compromise in this collaborative work, but an extension of individual modes of thinking and a joy in the creation of ephemeral things such as sensation, illusion and the fleeting shadows of things past or forgotten.
The linear structure is in place. The lines are connected. The work is stable. The artists are alone. There is quiet. The scissors are ready. I imagine this next stage to be undertaken in silence as the two move as dancers across the space snipping and opening up the work in order to reach the desired conclusion. Gaye Jurisich and Dianne Scott have undertaken in the first stage of the work to tie, bind, attach, fasten, join, connect and link. The cut being their final intervention. This is not an act not of defiance or anger but of letting go and taking the work further – for both. By undertaking such an action the viewer is now able to look through and beyond the linear elements and experience a gentle shiver or more agitated movement of the fallen threads as people pass by. Such a physical and psychological rupture is not for the faint hearted and I am drawn to Paul Klee (Pedagogical Sketchbook) when he discussed line as both a graphic projection of thought and the key element mediating the relationship between humans and their environment.
Equivalence, meaning similar or identical in value, allows the viewer to insert their own imaginings without judgement and a chance to initiate, and to mediate, their own personal memories.
Dr Carole Shepheard April 2018
Wire works The wire would be placed/pushed directly into holes (of the correct size) drilled in the wall. The placement of holes would be assessed at the time of installation.
Site specific, transformative, and often very instinctive I am interested in making works that divide space creating responsiveness from others.
Ode to Paul Klee (Pedagogical Sketchbook) when he discussed line as both a graphic projection of thought and the key element mediating the relationship between humans and their environment.
This work drives out from the wall taking over the space, and even though wire in not the traditional drawing method but in this instance, it comes alive with movement and tension creating lines so drawn they are real.
