The art of exhibiting or, about things being held together momentarily...
For Carole Roberts the gallery has become a place where work and space are harmonised, yet where meaning is extended towards a graceful discordancy. Roberts deals with that fine line between 'design' and 'serious object painting ', preferring the hybrid where painting/installation/design become integral parts of room arrangement, composing within an 'endless framing'.
The mural, the possibility of large scale trompe l’oeil (playing architectonically with the gallery 'void') becomes a motivating force that shifts the idea of decoration to such an extreme that it must be perceived sculpturally.
The most recent installation at the Mori Gallery pivoted upon the continuum, decor to decorum. Décor – that which pertains to 'all that makes up the appearance of a room or stage' was extended to suggest the 'seemliness, the propriety and the etiquette' of decorum. Here neo-classic ideals of crafting, of utmost finish and attention to detail, of urbanity and 'civilisation ' were conceived as essential elements that gave the twist to notions of traditionalism and innovation. Robert's installation was about the distinctive quality of setting.
The installation was emblematized by the fleur-de-lis – identifiably French, heraldic and typical of repeating decorative designs. In Roberts' hand, however the stylised lily was less 'chic', it had been based on an earlier version from Roman floor mosaics at Avignon and cut out of lead and recast, enigmatically atypical. This appositioning was characteristic of the exhibition: the majesty of oxidised steel columns having an elegant simplicity against the heavy, dull -surfaced and 'grounded' hammered-lead triangles that were set into panels of warm cedar. Likewise, truncated and embattled- looking branches with their ends lead-bandaged offset the smooth veneer look of