PATTERNS OF POSSIBILITIES

FACTORY 49 SHOWROOM

49 Shepherd Street Marrickville SYDNEY

23 SEPT - 3 OCT 2009

REVIEW: ABSTRACT ART REVIEW    September 2009               

Marlene Sarroff’s recent exhibition at Factory 49 ‘patterns of probabilities’opened on Wednesday 23 September 2009. the exhibition explores ideas relating to our perception of reality, random patterning and science. The works strongly convey Sarroff’s interest in physics and the multiple possibilities that emerge from exploring patterns. Sarroff exhibited three works from her ‘Wall Sculpture’, series, made from bubble wrap and tape, a wall installation  titled  ‘Variables’ made from bamboo placemats, acrylic and pins and an arrangement.  The ‘ ‘Wall Sculptures’, clearly demonstrate Sarroff’s sensitivity with material. The work is sensuous and conveys a tactile fragility that enhances her ready made materials. the monochromatic interpretation is in sharp contrast to her 2007 work ‘My imaginary Cosmos‘ , also exhibited at Factory 49. In this series Sarroff declared her love affair with colour, creating exuberantly vibrant works.

In the installation ‘Variables’ Sarroff combines bamboo place mats in multiple combinations.  Over 50 place mats were engage on the existing work.  In this way some areas of the work were built up to two or three layers, creating a sense of depth and generating additional forms of patterning. Sarroff’s claim that only one work exists but many are ‘possible ‘ is documented in the form of a photographic series.

PATTERNS OF POSSIBILITIES explores ideas relating to REALITY and how we perceive it. The main inspiration comes from an ongoing research into the interrelationship between Physics, the self and the world around us. Probabilities are determined by the dynamics of a whole system. Investigations reveal the opportunities for a vast array of variable configurations and arrangements.  Many separate parts come together as a whole and and at  a later date are reconfigured into different patterns.  Sarroff indicates how the whole becomes not only more than, but very different from, the sum of its parts.  Impermanence is everywhere and everything is in flux, patterns emerge only to be rearranged into a new dynamic.

All the works are born of everyday materials such as bubble wrap, tape, plastic and bamboo mats.  She considers patterning and configuration when determining the structure of her works but the final form evolves from the innate properties and structures of the material itself.  Large sculptural  wall works, each made to a particular random system, using bubble wrap and tape,  combine with black shiny intricate small bamboo mats grouped together mimicking tessellation patterns.  As in previous work, materials are the driving force behind Sarroff’s work. Often materials are manipulated by intense process as demonstrated in this exhibition. But also some are left in their original state, such as the carefully stacked, cellular like, psychedelic pink plastic containers that could be alluding  to scientific or biological things.