HOTA DUCHAMP PROJECT WALL

‘Another Sculpture: An exploration of space using functional objects’
SEPTEMBER 2020
HOME OF THE ARTS, GOLD COAST

Minimalist principals are strongly used and referenced in this site-specific painting. The artist presents primary colours, shapes and functional object-made forms. She explores how here chosen shapes in different colours create space, referencing construction sites, her access equipment from site and functional objects. The wall is treated as an object or specific space, painted to appear flat.

Sculptural and conceptual elements of creative practice are integrated into the mural by using functional, non-traditional objects to apply gestural paint markings. These included a broom, wood, plastic and seat stuffing that have functional, non-aesthetic purposes. The materiality of painting and it’s existence as a sculptural (physical) medium is emphasised through this chosen method of application.

The purest forms of primary colours with the highest possible pigments are used, considering the “essence” and the most basic of hues, intending to delineate space. The intensity of these colours demand attention as well as immersion in their visual weight and physical presence on the wall surface.

“Laurie starts with a background of pigment-rich blue. A void that evokes the sky or the deep ocean. Then bright yellow forms that are golden light, or perhaps even golden sand. Atop this are growing black shapes that twist and contort. In order to create these gestural, black markings the artist has used unusual materials. A broom and a block of wood became painting tools, their sculptural forms helping to create distinct shapes.

The result is a striking, large-scale abstract painting. Built in three distinct layers, it is both dynamic and harmonious, restrained and evocative. A painting and also, as the title suggests, a kind of sculpture. This presence of sculpture is two-fold. It is in Laurie’s process, where unusual objects are used in the making, and in the result, where colour and form push and pull against each other.”

— Bradley Vincent, Curator HOTA Home of the Arts

Photography by Aaron Chapman.