Curated by Teresa Cole
IMPACT7: Intersections and Counterpoints, International Multi-disciplinary Print Conference
Monash University, Caulfield Campus, Melbourne – 27 – 30 September, 2011
Pattern Matters is a six-person exhibition that explores issues of pattern from diverse perspectives. Once considered frivolous, pattern can function to dismantle space, emphasis meaning or explore repetition. These works often occupy a realm that floats between representation and abstraction. Conversely the imagery can provide tracings of past histories or mappings of time and place. It can define a new or implied space. Or the ordinary object can become pattern that emphasizes or questions routine. According to James Thrilling “Ornament frequently occupies a shadowy area between representation and abstract form.”
Pattern and ornament were frequently demonized in the 20th century; individuals such as Austro-Hungarian architect Adolf Loos even called it a crime. As artists who acknowledge the complex layering of our world we can no longer marginalize these elements. It is the goal for this exhibition to not only show the diversity of what is possible with pattern on a visual level but also to expand on the conceptual possibilities and bring pattern to the fore-front of contemporary discourse.
