By Arrangement

Anita Mertzlin

By Arrangement expresses an intimate connection with time and its passing.A realist still life painter, Mertzlin’s loose and formidable collection of antiques and junk form the basis for her compositions. In the studio, she arranges them according to colour and surface, to create a satisfying play of reflection and form.

Art Exhibition previously on in Flinders Lane precinct, Victoria, Australia.
From Wednesday 20 August 2008 to Saturday 06 September 2008
Launch Thursday 21 August 2008, 6-8pm

Plumbago image

Published by Gallery 101 on Friday 06 June 2008.
Contact the publisher.

This ‘theatre of familiar objects’ references unspoken, intimate and perhaps imagined stories and experience. Jars, broken tea cups, ink wells, nests, teapots, clocks, lingerie, hand-written letters, tea towels, pestle and mortar, flowers and fruit all wear the patina of time or use. These domestic things, transported from their usual context via the studio, now also speak of the world of the artist.

In these paintings Mertzlin is free to mix objects from disparate eras in the same frame – a kettle from the 1950’s sits beside mid-nineteenth century blue and white ceramic tea cups. Many of the artist’s favourite items recur in various canvases. The connections between some elements are made visible as they hang like a line of sheet music, suspended from a string line or branch. In other works a restrained spatial arrangement suggests possible relations between characters on stage. Many works are reminiscent of Renaissance window views, eighteenth century larders, early colonial story telling and shadow puppetry.

Location

GALLERY 101
Ground Level, 101 Collins Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3000

GALLERY HOURS:
TUES-FRI 10AM-5PM SAT 12PM-4PM

http://www.101collins.com.au