Metaphor for a vision

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 22

Metaphor for a vision

"Works in progress* Extensums.” An installation by Pauline Rhodes at the C.S.A. Gallery until July 26. Reviewed by Pat Unger. Within closed limits and through an array of ordinary substances, Pauline Rhodes transforms the space of the C.S.A.’s Mair Gallery into a no-place-Port Hills landscape. Extending and improving on previous installations — where rocks, stones and water were often symbols for rocks, stones and eternal contemplation — this work is a sustained metaphor for a vision, in sculptural drawing, of the life that surrounds us.

This large work of cut tin teased into moving line, rusted iron, rusted canvas and bright tripods supporting cloudshapes and kilowatt triangles, expresses in a physical way weather, place, time, rotation, light and human presence. No mean task, but one that Rhodes has manipu-

lated successfully without the leaps of uncertain association seen in previous works, and thankfully without relying on language that borders too much on art jargon. Rhodes conveys both strength and impermanence with her marks. Her iron roads and meandering paths underly a loose order, while the scribbled lines of bending tin embody further the physical imprint of the artist’s intention — drawings of a kind of eternity, reflected in temporary material.

The austere beauty of marble and slate are reflected in the rust and enhance ideas of decay and change. Contrasting the dappled light of the discoloured canvas and the garish colour of the tripods, Rhodes confronts the viewer with a metaphor of land, life and renewal.

Although following the sculptors of the 70s and 80s preoccupation to work within an interior cube of

space, then to move out of gallery to site, only to move back into the gallery with some of the site material, or with a metaphor instead, Rhodes has made this style of work her own.

The exploration of reality and transience through material, however static, she does with a sense of time moving on. This free association of degeneration and rebirth through time-charged images brings into modernity Keats’ ideal of art as being ... “of quietness, eternity and slow time.” The first recipient of the Spencer-Bower Foundation Award, Rhodes has used her time well. Her ongoing series of installations in galleries and projects in the landscape continue to impress. Her sensitivity towards her material increases in an almost gender-related way and her clarification of ideas enhances this skill. Viewers will find this “serious” art is an enjoyable experience.