From Stella Rosa McDonald…
Charles Dennington’s use of light in Amorphous Basin invites comparisons to a sculptor’s skilled manipulation of stone; the distances between form and illumination are skilfully carved until stone and space — or in this case light and shadow—are wedded to make an image. In Leanna in garden (2005), a woman’s face is encased in a net of shadow, her features made mask-like by solid silhouette. Some images appear to be two sides of the same coin; the kaleidoscopic play of hands in Untitled (Hands) (2015) and the variegated shadows of another untitled image play out on the gallery walls as cause and effect. Shadow and light appear in such strong contrast that their distinctions become ambiguous and faces are whittled down to stark resemblances, reminding us of the narcissus-like quality of photography; a medium that seems to only remember itself.
The photographs in Amorphous Basin are composed as complex, lyrical phrases where light acts as a substitute for consonants and vowels. The works consider time in their description of three dimensions. The series, which covers several years, seems to have captured the moments between photographs, as if Dennington opened the shutter while the lights were being moved or in the instant that a rogue object passed across the sun. They are the wrong moments in the right light.
Until July 19th
Galerie pompom, Chippendale
Pic: Charles Dennington, Untitled, 2015, archival pigment print, 31.6 x 47 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie pompom, Sydney
