From Rebecca Gallo…
The realms of art and science have long been intertwined, from the alchemy of pigments and the anatomy of life drawing to the investigation of new technologies through art. In the work of emerging Sydney artist Jack Stahel, intricate diagrams, charts and illustrations invoke the vernacular of science but are rooted in more abstract territory. His interest lies in the mapping and manifestation of self-reflective thought processes through drawing, and the result is like a secret code of interrelated dots, coils, characters, waves and strange polygons. Multiple small drawings are pinned onto sections of board, some connected with fine black thread. The drawings overlap and intersect to build a sense of complex, layered and unremitting work in progress.
Drawing is one of the most direct artistic mediums, the record of an unimpeded message from brain to hand. In his artist statement, Stahel quotes artist and academic Nikolaus Gansterer who suggests that drawings provide a glimpse of ‘the possible mental spaces between recognising and naming.’ In one sense Stahel’s drawings beg to be labelled, defined and explained: they elicit a desire to decode their mysterious, idiosyncratic and intensely detailed language. Simultaneously there is beauty in the mystery, and in the realisation that we will never fully comprehend what goes on in our own minds, let alone the minds of others.
Until September 13
MOP, Chippendale
Pic: Jack Stahel, Information Chart IX, 2015, ink on paper, 28 x 28 cm. Photo courtesy of Document Photography, 2015.
