image ↔ object

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A new body of work from Peta Jones

Craft ACT Gallery One: 15 November - 20 December 2008

Text by Jas Hugonnet

In this new body of work Peta Jones has created paper objects that have evolved from a collection of flat photographic images of textures. These printed photographic patterns represent a point in her design process where she considers what material would be suitable to create a functional object. What Jones has created in this exhibition is a sophisticated collection of paper prototypes informed by graphic patterns that can be developed into functional objects by using other materials. Crucial to the success of these prototypes is her skill in cutting, folding, stitching, gluing and pinning paper and her ability to incorporate a repeated graphic into a three dimensional design. These experiments created from an initial flat surface start to speak a new language in how surface behaves as the skin of the object.

The majority of objects in the exhibition have been inspired from shells found on the beach and have been formed from flat sheets of paper printed with repeat images of building facades, and textures found in the natural environment. It is the skin of her objects that lures the viewer. More than just a trap for the eye, the printed images prompt recognition in the viewer when applied to these paper objects, be it human order or nature's randomness. With function in mind, Jones has transformed these printed surfaces into dresses, hats, bags, vessels and a folding screen. A noticeable factor throughout this architectural origami is the shift in scale from a micro view to a full sized three dimensional object.

In image ↔ object, the works hover somewhere between abstraction and representation. The printed surface conjures up an idea or possibility of what the surface might be and allows the viewer to consider a range of material applications for the final object. Jones embraces this contradiction and allows the printed textures to stand in for other materials, for example in the work Hat Shibori-dyed Silk, there is clearly no silk present instead the graphic colours of a red leaf appear to bleed into one another as in the traditional dyeing techniques of shibori. In another work, a vase like object is made from an image of moss on tree bark. Titled Vessel Chrome Glaze, the object is evocative of ceramic glaze adhering to the pattern of a rough clay surface. Contrasting this with patterns sourced from the built environment Jones exposes the repeated pattern as a common element in both the natural and built worlds.

Her use of directional line in the graphic creation of the patterns and the way she reinforces this through folding has led to the creation of some unique contemporary forms. Inspired by function and fused with ideas drawn from both nature and architecture these life-size paper models suggest firmness in structure that belies their materiality. Overall this exhibition expresses a strong rationale that follows morphing of an image to an object while showing a deft hand in the manipulation of flat paper to suggest possibilities in both material and form.

 

Jas Hugonnet
October 2008

 

Images (from top to bottom)
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• Banner: Mort Street, 2008, digital image of building façade;
• Dress Merino wool, 2008, digital print of building façade, thread, steel pins;
• Helmets and armlet, 2008, wool plaid and metal inlay, digital print of building façade, thread, steel pins.
• Helmets and armlet, 2008, wool plaid and metal inlay, digital print of building façade, thread, steel pins.
• Helmets and armlet, 2008, wool plaid and metal inlay, digital print of building façade, thread, steel pins.

All photos: Courtesy of the Artist.