Chinatown, on the fringe of Sydney's central business district, is home to one of the newest spaces on the gallery circuit. Established in February this year, Gallery 4A is a non-profit organisation seeking to promote dialogue between artists, writers and curators in Australia and the Asian region. An initiative of the Asian Australian Artists Association, the gallery is funded from donations by private sponsors. The first exhibition at the gallery, loosely structured around the theme of portraiture, focussed on the work of three Australian artists of Asian descent: Emil Goh, Lindy Lee and Hou Leong. A program of international exhibitions by Asian artists is also scheduled. Yet this regional emphasis does not preclude artists from nonAsian backgrounds exhibiting at the gallery. A recent exhibition, combining the work of Elizabeth Pulie and Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, was a case in point.
Although the means and materials employed by Pulie and Vongpoothorn are quite distinct, the aesthetic results are similar. For this exhibition Pulie threaded hundreds of glass, wooden, aluminium and plastic beads onto thin strips of wire. These were then hung in rows from the metal curtain rod fastened to the wall to produce four works resembling bead curtains-popular in the 1970s to keep insects outdoors. The falling lines of beads produced basic shapes and patterns which were also sensuous and rhythmical. Layered with colour they elicited an emotional response from the viewer, an instant recognition of the symmetry and harmony of the forms. Deceptively laconic in design and appearance, this was Minimalism with heart, humour and soul.
These delicate bead curtains were the first objects produced by Pulie after years of painting. It is thus not surprising to find that they nervously