Review /Art and exhibitions
Unweaving the Rainbow
Mythical crocheted creatures are unearthed in Louise Weaver’s exhibition ‘Firestarter’.
ABOVE FROM LEFT:
I am transforming an
antler into a piece
of coral, 1995-2008;
Model for a collapsing
landscape, 2008;
RIGHT: From the house
of Fabius Rufus, 2008.
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Like the nest of a hedonistic magpiepoet, the elaborate, embellished works of
Louise Weaver bring together materials
and ideas from disparate sources. We
know this because of the delicate, detailed
descriptions that accompany the works.
Weaver says, “I list the provenance of
objects and materials when I can, as I find
it creates poetic juxtapositions of language
and meaning.”
Thoughtful and articulate, Weaver goes
on to say, “It also creates another layer of
significance that is cultural, historical, and
contemporary all at once. Classification and
order; collisions of style, form and process,
become apparent in these lists of materials.”
Known as an artist who often rehabilitates
found materials, Weaver explains, “I often
select materials that replicate or hint at
natural surfaces or processes such as
decay, re-growth, metamorphosis”. These
ideas of transformation and change are
reflected in her use of crochet and taxidermy
techniques – themselves processes of
creation and entropy.
Her latest exhibition at Sydney’s Darren
Knight Gallery during February entitled
Firestarter, was a rather ominous title in
Australia as it turned out, but Weaver
explains with aplomb, “the exhibition
featured a sculpture called Phoenix, Indian
Blue Peacock (Pavo Cristatus) 2008-2009,
a taxidermy peacock transforming into a
mythical bird, I thought it apt. Traditionally
the phoenix is reborn from its own ashes,
and can be seen as an eternal and magical
symbol for regrowth, transformation and
immortality.”
She continues, “For more than 15
years my art practice has been primarily
concerned with concepts of nature and its
representation, its fragility and endurance,
evoking nature’s boundless capacity for
continual reinvention and rejuvenation.”
Taxidermy inherently preserves things that
have past, so it is fascinating that Weaver’s
first crochet work (over a bronze cast)
was to create coral – itself an endangered
species. This ecological undercurrent has
an important part to play in the creation and
reception of her work.
“I have used models of species
introduced to Australia such as the fox and
hare. Often the most ‘understated’ animal
becomes through my elaborate surface
interventions a highly exotic creature. An
example of this would be New Romantic
(Golden Hare) 2000, in the Chartwell
Collection at Auckland Art Gallery.” The
synthetic treatment of this prolific pest
species with hand-crocheted rayon thread
over high density foam, and gold-coloured
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Review /Art and exhibitions
“Colour and surface texture is heightened and exaggerated in these
works to extend the viewer’s perception of what is ‘real’.”Louise Weaver
ABOVE FROM LEFT:
Death Adder, 2008;
Secrets are for
Keeping, 2008; Galah
(Wild ribbons instead
of Sleep), 2007-2008.
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plastic ‘fur’ perhaps belies Weaver’s
environmental sympathies.
Weaver has been known to create
snowflakes blown from glass; appliqué
clusters of sequins and diamantes to
approximate raindrops and dew, and
manufacture surface coverings to resemble
vacuum-cleaner dust. She says, “I enjoy
selecting tangible materials to indicate the
ephemeral and transitory.”
Her work (one of the edition of five) I
am transforming an antler into a piece of
coral by crocheting over its entire surface
(sparkling antler) 1995 – 2008 will appear
at the Auckland Art Fair in May this year,
but Weaver herself is in New York for an
Australia Council Studio Residency where
she will be creating work for her shows in
2010. Handcrafted and labour intensive,
Weaver has earned her stripes to undertake
another residency in 2009 at the Australian
Tapestry workshop in Melbourne.
The sheaths or ‘new skins’, as she
metaphorically describes them, that she
creates as both paintings and sculptures, for
abstract forms and animals alike, approach
the status of clothing. She insists however,
that they are more like a semi-permeable
membrane (skin). “Colour and surface
texture is heightened and exaggerated
in these works to extend the viewer’s
perception of what is ‘real’.” This collision of
the artificial and the real creates productive
visual poetry for Weaver, “Many of the
strange juxtapositions in my work are hinted
at in the natural world. For example there
are butterflies that have the appearance of
owl’s eyes on their wings.”
Adopting elements of haute couture as
raw material but frequently re-processed,
Weaver explains that her interest in fashion is
conceptual. She says, “Elements of ‘fashion’
that are elusive and ephemeral and replicate
aspects of the natural world, including
display, mimicry and performance, are of
interest to me.” This merger of craft, science,
fashion and ecology signal that Weaver’s
hybrid forms operate at the intersection of
nature and culture.
Weaver once recouped, deconstructed
and reconfigured flowers from an Issey
Miyake evening bag. She insists however,
that the flowers were selected not because
they were a designer object, but because
of their manufacture, “Each blossom was
cut and sealed with high frequency sound
waves. These attributes are specific to
a certain period in time, place and level
of technological capability.” The logic of
making is a native instinct, and Weaver’s
exquisite creations demonstrate that she
has that instinct in abundance. Hanna Scott
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