Over, Under, Around and Through

From Sharne Wolff…

For an artist well known for her exquisite book sculptures and wood carvings, Kylie Stillman’s latest exhibition marks a new development in her practice. Temporarily bound to work in the smallest spaces of her home – “a desk and a chair camped in the hallway”, Stillman has produced a series of over 50 thread ‘drawings’ described by the artist as her “thinnest” sculptures to date. Thirteen found boxes refashioned with thread complete the display for Over, Under, Around and Through.

Echoing the moves of the show’s title are thread on paper depictions of crochet actions, knitting stitches and instructions on their techniques. In other works, the artist has used a delicate combination of white thread and beads to create a dew-glistened spider web, rain beading on a window and the icy shadow of a tree. Leaf Remains, Pantograph Drawing and her Effervescent Sketch of air bubbles in liquid, continue an exploration of absence evident in Stillman’s past work while the labelled drawings of the parts of a typewriter, the lead type for the letter M and a sewing machine encourage the viewer to reflect closely on the architecture of these recently vintage objects as well as the space they occupy.

Until August 29
Utopia Art, Waterloo
Pic: Kylie Stillman, Text maker (detail) 2015, cotton thread on paper, 42 x 30cm. Courtesy the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.