Joanna Langford 'At the waking hour'7-22 January 2011
Paul Nache gallery, Gisborne.
Langford has carefully stretched green silo bags, hanging them near the gallery ceiling, where they seem to slip or morph between cloud like forms and floating rubbish heaps.
Suspended from the ceiling in planetary formations oranges fall, as if from a fruiting tree. The fruit is, however wrinkly, ancient, developing a white film of mould and subtly permeating the gallery with the smell of rotting citrus.
The oranges are held delicately in place by cotton thread and pierced with a series of sewing needles creating tiny balcony-like structures. Although the sewing needles allude to the hand made, to skill and craft, Langford's installation is thoughtfully awkward, pointedly clumsy, refusing ideals of virtuosity and manual dexterity.
Langford's teetering, waifish constructions challenge the solid, linear art deco architecture of the gallery. Her constructions of spindly bamboo poles, plastic bags and suspended oranges could be a sketch to a new kind of architecture, perhaps a plan for some kind of other-worldly city.
Langford's installation at Paul Nache manages to combine the edible and inedible, organic and inorganic in fantastical formations. Her use of materials that deteriorate, that are spoilt and overripe lends her installation a slightly unwholesome air, whilst her incongruous combinations of materials create a sense of disquiet, a feeling that often prevails in Langford's works.
Joanna Langford's installation at Paul Nache Gallery seems to take on a number of precarious architectural formations. Her fragile structures look to be on the verge of collapse, whilst simultaneously spreading, creeping and unfurling.
Langford has carefully stretched green silo bags, hanging them near the gallery ceiling, where they seem to slip or morph between cloud like forms and floating rubbish heaps.
Suspended from the ceiling in planetary formations oranges fall, as if from a fruiting tree. The fruit is, however wrinkly, ancient, developing a white film of mould and subtly permeating the gallery with the smell of rotting citrus.
The oranges are held delicately in place by cotton thread and pierced with a series of sewing needles creating tiny balcony-like structures. Although the sewing needles allude to the hand made, to skill and craft, Langford's installation is thoughtfully awkward, pointedly clumsy, refusing ideals of virtuosity and manual dexterity.
Langford's teetering, waifish constructions challenge the solid, linear art deco architecture of the gallery. Her constructions of spindly bamboo poles, plastic bags and suspended oranges could be a sketch to a new kind of architecture, perhaps a plan for some kind of other-worldly city.
Langford's installation at Paul Nache manages to combine the edible and inedible, organic and inorganic in fantastical formations. Her use of materials that deteriorate, that are spoilt and overripe lends her installation a slightly unwholesome air, whilst her incongruous combinations of materials create a sense of disquiet, a feeling that often prevails in Langford's works.
photo credit: PAULNACHE and Tom Teutenberg.
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