Rosalie Gascoigne uses a range of materials which are richly layered and give her works deep historical and cultural significance. She works with Found Objects, including old pieces of wood, signs, feathers, cans and offcuts usually arranged onto pieces of plywood or into other expressive forms. Her materials are a mixture of natural and artificial things, which when cleverly arranged provide beautiful contrasts, and explore the many themes within her work, which include the idea of landscape and place. They are also materials which are loaded with personal and historical value, as each material has been once used for a different purpose, and therefore has it's own story. Gascoigne is selective and critical with the materials she chooses for her final works. As she employs the technique of repetition, it is important that the materials she chooses are suitable for the composition, and through careful arrangement she is able to make even the seemingly simplest of materials express their most interesting qualities. Collection of materials is also an important part of her artmaking process, as it later informs the nature of her works, and allows her to connect with as many parts of the Australian landscape and different experiences as possible. She lives with her compositions and potential materials, and works on possible compositions until she feels they are right. She has a background in 'Ikebana', the art of Japanese Flower arranging, which is considered by many to be an artform in itself. She works in blocks of no longer than 3 hours, arranging, looking at and altering pieces until they come together.
Fiona Hall
Fiona Hall's choice of materials are very important as they inform the social and political messages that her works are attempting to express. She, like Gascoigne uses a wide range of materials specific to each individual artwork, emphasising what she wishes to express visually and intellectually. Some of her materials include beads, notes of money, vitrine, tupperware containers, metal cans, rubber, soap and laminex. Materials are assembled to create 'dialouges' within the works. Her production methods are very meticulous, precise and time consuming, as she creates works of intricate and normally miniscule detail. Her artmaking practice and production is also enriched by the research she does and has done, on nature, colonisation and museum practices, all of these strong themes within her work. She has a wide range of artmaking skills, including beading, knitting, carving and painting, each ( like her materials) adopted specifically for the type of work she does. For example, the work 'Dead in the Water' uses pvc pipe, glass beads, wire and vitrine. The pvc pipe in the work has been meticulously punctured with tiny holes so that it's form has been transformed from something very crude, smooth and typically masculine to something more delicate and lacelike. Connected to the pipes are carefully beaded organic forms which are suspended below the 'waterline' of a glass tank. The beading on these forms is highly labour intensive, Hall's own statement commenting on social interchanges. the intricate beaded bags that are so expensive in the west are more than often being made by people in third world countries. Beads as a material were also once traded by colonising powers in exchange for land or food, another layer of meaning within the work. The careful arrangement of these separate materials and practices creates rich dialouges within the work, and interesting contrasts, making them visually appealing.
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