Stephen McLaughlan Gallery
Level 8 Room 16 Nicholas Building
37 Swanston St Melbourne 3000 On the corner of Flinders Lane
Opening 5pm-7pm Thursday October 24 Exhibition October 24 – November 9 1996
Gallery Hours Wednesday to Friday 1pm-5pm Saturday 11am-5pm and by appointment
While in Prague in late 1994 my focus shifted from Baroque decorative architectural detail to gold, silver and jewelled objects (particularly the set of monstrances in the Loreto collection dating from the period of the Counter Reformation). Although these pieces of ‘decorative arts’ cannot be divorced from the context of total Baroque orchestration, they command their own stunning presence. Decoration attains its own assertive independent stature taking it beyond embellishment – the very materiality of the object becomes indefinable. This elusiveness echoes the notion of the venerated transubstantiated host which these ecclesiastical objects house. The opportunity to extend this research into a woven rug seemed particularly appropriate.
LIST OF WORKS
MONSTRANCE 4, 1996 MONSTRANCE 1, 1995
MONSTRANCE 3, 1995/6 MONSTRANCE 2, 1995
All works: Acrylic on Wood. Each: 850 x 650 x 110mm (Nominal Size; Height First.)
RUG (MONSTRANCE 1) 1995Tufted Wool; In an Edition of 5. 2400 x 1700mm