Exhibition floor talk | Being Boring
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Output Type
Other
Publication Title
Exhibition floor talk | Being Boring
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Arts and Humanities; ECU Galleries
Description
Exhibition Statement | Being Boring - a chance to ruminate on simple curiosities. From afar there are flashes of colour which shift and change with each view. The surfaces of these works shimmer and throw shadows. While completely still, they appear like bodies in motion. Holding a vibrating energy. On closer inspection, fastidiously cut and folded panes of paper point outward. Often surprising combinations of colours in opaque gouache coat these paper facets. There is harmony among the sharpness and contrasts.
In Being Boring, Sarah Thornton-Smith directs her rigorous manipulation of cut paper and subtle study of colour theory to the revision of pattern and possibilities. She picks up old ideas that have fallen to the side of her arts practice, turns them over in her hands, asks them questions, and listens to see what their answer is.
A tennis coach once told me the most important thing about making a good shot, was what happens after the racquet hits the ball. That the success of your delivery depends on a commitment to completing the full rotation of movement to release its energy. Rushing to finish at the point of impact would send a badly-directed ball across the net, and leave the motion of that action stuck within your body.
Sarah describes the process of making work for this exhibition as “fidgeting and stumbling through quiet, inconsequential ideas” to slowly embrace their meaning. There is something Buddhist in this process. A daily practice of fully exploring and completing each work. Picking up patterns which still have energy left to expend and following the trajectories that spark from these small gems of ideas. Once resolved, Sarah is released from the repetition. Quiet, iterative and reflective. While from afar it may seem boring, on closer inspection the pattern becomes clear.
Artist Bio | Sarah Thornton-Smith is an artist and designer who loves working with colour.
Her work with gouache on paper is delicate, ephemeral and echo the intimacy of the process and the temporary nature of her feelings through which our experiences and memories are created. The colour palettes in her work are derived directly from her photographic documentation, written notations and watercolour field studies.
Sarah’s observation of nature and the subtle connection between colour, form, structure and light intrigues her and so began her conversations with colour. Developing this observation through her use of ‘colour waves’ in the gradation manipulation of gouache allows a show of visual experiences that translates to experimental notions and ideas. Ideas like kinetic and optical visual play lend themselves to further experimentation that can highlight a memory or experience. Sometimes a connection is made and this is a gift in itself.
Arriving from Singapore in her teens, Sarah was struck by the quality of the light here in Western Australia, which contrasted with her formative experience of light bound by tropical lushness. Her art practice gives her opportunities to explore the myriad of attributes of colour in the compositions and constructions she creates which contribute to her continued search for patterns. Influenced by rhythmic beats of music, words or ideas, her work echoes the intimacy of the processes involved and highlights the temporary nature of our feelings through which our experiences and memories are created, contributing unwittingly to an enquiry of connections.
Additional Information
Exhibition dates: 10 Mar - 7 Apr 2022 | ACDC Floor Talk: 23 Mar 2022 12.30 - 1.30pm