TEXT : 2025 Retrospective Exhibition Marlene Sarroff

P A RT 1

The Iconic Petersham Studios, a Modernist Industrial Building is now awaiting an intensive redevelopment. So it is with much regret after 10 years of having an excellent studio space it is time to move on. Counting the three decades of studio practice in various Sydney studios  it has been  fortunate over this time to be able to have inspiring  studios around the inner West of Sydney and a waterfront at  Blackwattle studios Glebe and overseas studios. An exhibition with a “retrospective“ focus, occurred  to me as I had work stored away (many works never shown) and a large space to exhibit.   I am a  multidiscipline artist whose practice seamlessly bridges innovation via materiality,  with an abstraction overview, so as to tie together all the works over the years (from 1995) it  was understandable  that it would take some analysis.   However I soon realised this will not be a sophisticated show with sharp white walls.  Uncovering and rediscovering early works, wrapped and stored away   for  some time, now sit side by side in the studio creating an interesting  visual montage of past and present.     Curated with   an overview and reflection of my work over the years it is no surprise that experimentation is what drives me, particularly with found. materials (industrial) and found items (ready made). Available works (many never shown previously or totally resolved)  seemingly combine  various experimentations and ideas  that have explored themes that focus on the daily practise, daily life and the   unexpected. The  work is often made from a diverse range of found things. It is an investigation of the ordinary from the perspective of the "found" be it the rejected, the disposable, the overlooked that becomes an intrinsically   part of the creative process and through the materiality it defines  how the work evolves. All discovered things create vital possibilities that are transcended through a daily practice of living the everyday aesthetically.  Allowing spontaneity, freedom, chance encounters and the unexpected, are  of utmost importance of  the working process. This over the years is my way of being (a simple life)  as a support for my work perhaps with my impatience of always experimenting is always a movable idea depending on what has arrived in my studio. This I have questioned myself often and dismiss it as I move with what I have either found or been gifted or stumbled upon or observed that day. (daily life)

P A RT 2 (C o n t )

All discovered things create vital possibilities that transcend their original manufacture to be recontexturalised and elevated into a work of art.  What transpires in making the work is accidentally miraculous, an engagement with a new kind of anthropology, an immersion in the pleasures of popular culture, or a meditation on what happens unexpectedly. It simply is a means of seeing everyday objects and materials in a new light. As Henri Lefebvre, a theorist on this subject, notes the "concept of everydayness (can) reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary." At a philosophical level the celebration of the everyday has oppositional and dissident overtones, offering a voice to the silenced and proposing possibilities for change. This exhibition is a  really interesting adventure not only for those that viewed the work but my own memory and an attempt to analyse a journey of dedication both literally and conceptually to the work. The delightful surprise to re-engage with a 1995 Painting, to give homage to Builders Tar Paper, roofing foil and bubblewrap.  Influenced by trips to India and Indonesia, also  print making to more recent times, cardboard, and  continuing the importance of the “everyday” accidental found things.( up the lane, around the corner, etc)  Surprisingly the reconnecting with a metallic sensibility has surprised me by  forgetting past  works where the metallic was used for some important work. Assemblage remains a defining aspect of my working method and combines seamlessly with the found objects that are utilised almost like the “icing on the cake” .  My studio  work remains important however Installation (not represented in this exhibition) working within a space is an exciting extension of my work over the years.  Finally setting up this exhibition with a wide variety of work in the studio, I became resolved to the fact this is not going to be a sharp clean white space or even a time line for the works.  I have relented to images that show works stacked, piled up and certainly mixes the times. They don’t always appear connected, however it is the materiality and the found readymade that brings the “eras’ together I think.

MARLENE SARROFF