Display in cabinets

Press, 4 August 1983, Page 20

Display in cabinets

“Thought cupboards.” Sculptures by Christine Hellyar at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery until August 21. Reviewed by John Hurrell. Four wooden cabinets, containing a selection of handmade and natural objects, make up this exhibition of Christine Hellyar’s work in the white “contemporary bays” in the McDougall. Entitled “Gathering,” “Worrying,” “Mixing,” and “Enhancing,” these displays of assorted paraphernalia, much of it of fired clay, are arranged with two cupboards in each bay. On the wall, suspended over each cupboard, is an assemblage of mixed media, serving as a kind of mysterious emblem. As their collective title suggests, the primitively raw, natural looking objects in these cupboards are geared to provoke a series of associations in the mind of the viewer, as he or she is stooping down to peer through the glass doors. This emphasis on mental activity is underlined with the presence of hat-shaped forms in each cupboard and pieces which suggest the upper part of the skull. The theme of the vessel or container is also prevalent, extending the cupboard itself to birds nests, pumice bowls and flax baskets. What is most distinctive about this very unusual exhibition is its method of presentation in cupboards. Their presence is so imposing that they dominate over their actual contents, such is their association with museum displays, basement storage areas and the general hoarding of cultural artifacts.

If anything, they tend to contradict and inhibit the

intellectual connotations of their contents like a poorly framed painting in which the ornamentation detracts from the picture within it, the formality of the wooden and glass cupboard kills off any sense of exuberance, or subtlety of form, inside. Even the configurations of cane, feathers, weaving and skin, hanging above the cupboards, look contrived in the actual space, yet they fit in with the actual cupboard’s contents. Because they have a meaning all their own, especially when seen in an art gallery, a place where art objects are acquired and stored, these austere cabinets have a propensity for subtle satire, but which actually is contradicted by the somewhat outrageous improvised quality of the assemblages above them. Conceptually and sculpturally, these works are not fully resolved, and yet they contain intriguing elements which make this show worth a visit. The titles of each of these cupboards add a lot to their appreciation. “Gathering” incorporates a rake, baskets and sieves, “Worrying” uses helmet shapes, “Mixing,” mortar pestles and “enhancing” feathered hats and embellished staffs. In spite of this, there is quite a degree of thematic overlap into other cupboards, and this openendedness tends to obscure rather than refine the meaning of each work. This reluctance to restrict the content, at times makes the work too vague and its meaning hard to define, and coupled with the problems of its presentation, thwarts what would otherwise be a demanding but intellectually rarified exhibition.