From Rebecca Gallo…
In Marion Borgelt’s exhibition A Delicate Balance sculptures and paintings radiate a careful sense of balance, as if poised between multiple opposing forces. Her latest work includes sculptures of curved plywood, spheres of Radiata pine, cut and re-pinned canvas, and large-scale paintings of oscillating wavy lines and circles. The works are abstract, and the materials used in their creation are skillfully manipulated so as to be seamless: it’s hard to imagine them being made out of anything else. In each object Borgelt moves deftly between light and dark, concave and convex, geometric and organic. There are few straight lines, but everything feels symmetrical, precise and deliberate, creating a sense of harmony akin to that in nature, where the organic follows an internal logic and order.
This symmetry extends even to the objects that are irregularly shaped. Red Full Circle and Full Circle Black/Gold each comprise a collection of thin plywood loops, coils and arabesques. Although each shape is unique, Borgelt achieves harmony through the uniformity of black laminate outers and boldly coloured inner surfaces, and their grid-like presentation. Her use of organic materials alongside highly polished, manufactured surfaces is an interesting twist. In spite of Borgelt’s mathematical precision, traces of humanness remain, and these minor idiosyncrasies function as entry points into objects that might otherwise be alienating in their polished perfection.
Until October 10
Dominik Mersch Gallery, Rushcutters Bay
Pic: Marion Borgelt, Liquid Light: Butterfly No. 17, 2014, acrylic, canvas, timber, pins, 145 cm diameter.
