my World - The Waters Group

GALLERY 101Sugar Cubes, 2006, oil on Belgian linen, 56 x 56cm.LIFE, STILL LIFEPaintingANITA MERTZLIN29 AUGUST – 16 SEPTEMBER 2006Playing with the conventions of traditional still life painting, Anita Mertzlin brings apresent-day sensibility to the genre. She paints from life - collecting objects that arefamiliar and frequently used such as flowers, fruit, vessels and clothing and arrangesthem to be pictured in her studio.Mertzlin’s works embrace an old world and contemporary elegance. Her abilityto render in paint the insubstantial qualities of light and space invites the pleasureof delicate scrutiny - vases of fresh flowers and seasonal fruit; ceramic and glass vesselsamidst formal table settings; stockings, lipstick cases and powder compacts; andunexplained elements such as feathers and thread - transport us into a contemplativeworld. Through intimate observation of surface, light and colour, the present intrudesto animate her arrangements. It is the resonances between things, rather than theobjects themselves, that come to the fore to spark memory, fantasy and curiosity.WAVETapestry & PhotographyTIM GRESHAM19 SEPTEMBER - 7 OCTOBERWaves in water, waves of light, waves of rhythmical patterns, sound and music; this is what mycurrent body of work is about. In the photographs there are images of water, skies, shimmeringlight on wet surfaces, and repetitive architectural forms. They are linked to the tapestries,which have layers of rhythmical patterns flowing through them. There are patterns inside ofpatterns, from the structure of the weave up to the overall design.There is a sense of energy in the work, but also a quietness and stillness. A moment frozenin time. With the photographs this happens instantly, but with the tapestries the act offreezing the moment takes time. This contrast is important to me and is reflected throughoutthe work: Black and white photographs as opposed to colour tapestries. The tactile, fibroussurface of the tapestries contrasts with the smooth photographs. The images in the photographsare precisely composed, whereas the tapestries are sections of abstract patterns, which couldcontinue indefinitely.Pulse, 2006, woven tapestry, 110 x 110cm.Below: Synchronic Variations II, 2006, light jet print on photographic paper, ed.5, 40 x 55cmOff the Shelf, 2006, oil on canvas,56 x 46cm.SHADES OF MEANING IVPaintingKATHLEEN MITCHELL19 SEPTEMBER - 7 OCTOBERIn the fourth exhibition in the series the artist elaborates her investigation of colour, abstractionand spatial relationships.‘The literal image is something as a painter I’ve not been comfortable with. My paintingsare a response to memory, feelings, shapes, colour and rhythms, which present themselvesunexpectedly on the canvas. I let the canvas dictate to me the mass, line and colour until aunified whole has been established.’In these works unpremeditated colours and shapes have evolved as motifs, which appearand reappear like a chromatic scale and rhythm in music. Figure – ground relationshipsdetermine the arrangement of colour fields in each work. Mitchell approaches compositionin terms of spatial relationships and correspondences through which she achieves a senseof balance and harmony.‘Like a composer with a tune playing in my head, these motifs have had to be tossedaround, elaborated on, fine tuned and put to rest. The overall body of imagery is my responseto a moment in time, but ultimately the only thing that matters is that the paintingshave a life of their own’.18 The 101 Quarterly