from the shed to the dining room and back, a selection of work from 1962-2002
aldo iacobelli
The contrasting styles of these two painters bespeaks the evolution of painting in recent decades. The retrospective tribute to Loene Furler, well-known Adelaide musician, lecturer and artist, spans the period from late modernism to the present. Her personal and expressive approach to art-making has evolved with the artistic trends and political concerns of that period.
Furler's early work explored diverse subjects. Landscape (1965) is typical of Australian abstraction of the time, its strong, earthy tones and lyrical shapes suggesting formal concerns. By contrast, The Housewife of the same year shows a woman (the artist?) at the kitchen sink, suggesting domestic servitude. Furler's Vietnam and Prince Charles I and 11 (1966) are collages protesting the Vietnam War. Her preoccupations have ranged widely since, though a primary theme is her own situation, as depicted in Squeezed (self portrait) (1971), in which her face emerges from a paint tube. Right from the start we are bound (Sia) ( 1976) shows her infant daughter roped into her high-chair during feeding, paint peeling from the wall behind. Since then, Furler's work has encompassed portraiture, assemblage, ceramics, fabric design and even candle-making.
Furler's most interesting recent works are her assemblages on canvas. In A scattered mind seeking signs (2000) the canvas becomes a pin-board bearing memorabilia such as a naive watercolour, a stick, letters, parcels and photographs. Sometimes her canvas is stitched, representing 'women's work', or stitched outlines or borders. These are strong personal statements, but are calculated to have broader signifying potential and are metaphors for the aggregate persona. The direct statements of earlier years remain, but are now subtler and wiser. She is at her most powerful when she depicts objects