Cigam
2 minute read
Cigam
Written by Murray Crane
Föenander Galleries ↗Written by Murray Crane
Föenander Galleries in Parnell is showing new work by Lottie Consalvo until October 7th. The exhibition is titled Cigam—read it backwards and you have the point of the show.
I was fortunate enough to see some of these works in progress earlier this year, and again at Sydney Contemporary, but seeing them finished and hung together is a wonderful experience.
Sydney Sojourn ↗I was fortunate enough to see some of these works in progress earlier this year, and again at Sydney Contemporary, but seeing them finished and hung together is a wonderful experience.
Consalvo paints in dusty pinks, with yellow intruding as a color with too much presence to stay in the background. Animals—dogs, moths, bats, stingrays—appear alongside human figures until the boundary between them disappears.
The show's real subject is the dandelion: once a medicine, now a weed pulled without a second thought. Consalvo uses it to suggest that what we call impossible might simply be something we have forgotten how to reach. The paintings carry this idea with remarkable restraint.
A cloth-bound monograph of her work, featuring a single painted panel set into the cover, is also out now, and Consalvo will be launching it in Auckland next month.
I went through the exhibition twice, and the slower pass rewards attention in a way few shows have this year. It is well worth the trip to Parnell before it closes.
The show's real subject is the dandelion: once a medicine, now a weed pulled without a second thought. Consalvo uses it to suggest that what we call impossible might simply be something we have forgotten how to reach. The paintings carry this idea with remarkable restraint.
A cloth-bound monograph of her work, featuring a single painted panel set into the cover, is also out now, and Consalvo will be launching it in Auckland next month.
I went through the exhibition twice, and the slower pass rewards attention in a way few shows have this year. It is well worth the trip to Parnell before it closes.
