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Over the past five years Regina Walter has produced a number of exquisite sculptural objects and installations using elements such as light, air, heat and water. Many of her artworks dramatise processes of metamorphosis and mutation in order to convey a sense of spatial dissimulation. This was exemplified in a work, Untitled, of 1995 produced for an exhibition at Casula Powerhouse, Sydney. Residing somewhere between artwork and scientific experiment, this piece consisted of an electric light source which was covered in liquid gel (slowly drying to form a stunning stalactite) and suspended from the roof like a giant glowworm. Emitting small tears of light, this work managed to fill the space but, oddly, occupied no real place in the gallery.
Walter's artworks often seem quite vulnerable and fragile, in danger of deflating, melting, dripping, burning or tearing. This fluid and indeterminate state intensifies one's spatial and sensory experience of the works and it has an important bearing on their conceptual structure. Subverting conventional codes of material usage and exhibition practice, Walter's artworks are meticulously grafted into space to create what one might describe as meta-artwork, or art that constantly reflects upon its construction and its presence within a particular space. Some of the most successful examples of her practice in this area were installations using inflated industrial-sized white plastic tubing.
Walter first used white plastic tubing for an exhibition at CBD Gallery, Sydney, in 1996. This installation, Untitled, consisted of over thirty inflated tubes suspended just off the ground by a thin piece of plastic which hung discretely between the tops of adjacent walls. Stacked to fill the exhibition space without touching the walls or floor, the tubes... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline