systems: katherine huang
Christopher Chapman's decision to exhibit installation artists Sonja Porcaro and Katherine Huang together was inspired. Looking through Porcaro's visually minimal installation weft into Huang's abundant work systems, it is clear that stylistically the works are very different. Whilst this difference is complementary, it is the delicate sensibility to material, space and composition with which Porcaro and Huang imbue their installations that defines the success of the juxtaposition. This delicate sensibility imparts a sense of hesitancy in the space of the gallery. In both installations there is an invitation to inspect, but also a sense of mystery, a stepping sideways.
Porcaro's installation weft is positioned in the first half of the gallery, pushed back so as to draw the viewer in. This is the first hesitation. The second is the sparse material existence of weft. A series of white and blue chalk sticks strung together lengthwise and suspended from the ceiling form solid lines which only just touch the floor. As you look at them, you look through them. Their colour, tone and texture are so similar to the walls and floor that they become visually inaudible. lt is only Huang's colourful installation systems sitting behind that gives them certain visual definition. Despite their minimal material existence, Porcaro's suspended chalk lines are impelling. The lines which are suspended up to the ceiling draw me into the space, to inspect. The title weft suggests horizontal linearity, but the lines of chalk sticks are definite in their up-ended perpendicularity. They are the warp. And they are warped. The chalk sticks do not hang neatly one above the other, they sit weighted, pushed down by the one above, some sticks leaning to one side