Julia Morison: a loop around a loop
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Fair and gay goes Lent away (above),
from Gobsmack and Flabbergast series
2005 by Julia Morison, mixed media
on aluminium laminate. Shown below are
details from End to Begin, 1995, oil and
wax on hessian over board. |
Christchurch artist Julia Morison has always resisted forgone conclusions in her art. Viewing her work is like starting to play one game and finding yourself entangled in another.
Christchurch Art Gallery’s a loop around a loop, a major exhibition surveying Morison’s practice, is no exception. Developed as a collaboration between Christchurch Art Gallery and Dunedin Public Art Gallery, a loop around a loop resists the usual, chronological order of the conventional survey and instead interlaces works from more than 20 years of practice around an important new body of work made especially for the exhibition.
Gargantua’s Petticoat is one of the largest suites of paintings Morison has ever made. Teeming with intricate patterns drawn from historical costuming and the forms of the body, it is described as “giving spectacular new life to the exchange between formal order and imaginative discovery that animates Morison’s career”.
Morison regards all her works as collaborations of some kind, and perhaps the most spectacular examples of this are the nine strangely elongated dresses from the Material Evidence: 100-Headless Woman series that precede the visitor into each space. These were created by Morison in 1997 with leading Australian couturier Martin Grant.
One of the dresses, a flowing garment “sown” with real grass, greets visitors at the entry to the exhibition. It will continue to grow and change throughout the show.
Gallery Curator of Contemporary Art Felicity Milburn says a loop around a loop shows how Morison circles and recycles ideas to take in different concepts.
“Whichever direction you decide upon, your loop will lead you through 20 years and 11 major series by one of New Zealand’s most playful and inventive artists.”
- a loop around a loop, sponsored by Ernst & Young, is at Christchurch Art Gallery to 23 October. Admission free.
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