Sculptures by Anderson

Press, 30 November 1987, Page 21

Sculptures by Anderson

“Sculptures and Drawings,” by Sarah Anderson at the Several Arts Gallery until December 5. Reviewed by Pat Unger. In a time of fascination with the fantastic and the unreal, Sarah Anderson’s strange sculptural shapes will not disappoint. Her six objects are restrained upon the walls of the Several Arts Gallery by a barely ’ seen twoscrew system. They could be teasels with a difference. Wire and papier mache “things” appear programmed to reach out and raise the nap of any positive and negetative ions floating about in this white chamber of aesthetics. Their job — to collect the resulting electricals and conduct them back to “mother.” And “mother” in these works is a solid little powerhouse of ideas, charm and fired ceramics.

On the other hand, they could be the reified remains of some terrestrial pro-other-lifers, housed in a sacred place. The viewer could be in their Valhalla. Perhaps these are the monuments of a family who have had their essence embalmed in paper, wire and burnt clay.

Like other sculptors, Anderson finds copper

wire, copper rods, paper and ceramics creative fun and technically expressive.

Her objects are genteel, when compared to Debra Bustin’s frenetic wire and mache happenings. They are more mystical and fay than Bianca Van Rangelrooy’s complex constructs.

The accompanying works on paper, in pen, wash and pencil reaffirm this difference. Anderson draws the environment necessary for her structures’ existence with a fine, tenuous line. Organic shapes hover between recognition and doubt, delicate marks — sometimes abruptly detached to challenge harmony — give insightful description of a private world. This is an imaginitive show by the 1986 Rosemary Johnson Muller Memorial Scholar. Anderson continues to move away from sculpture’s formal objectivity. She explores an expressive and personal idiom.

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