Read/Download Exhibition Review jpg by Ric Spencer The West Australian 1 July 2006 (text only version sroll down)

Scroll down and click on images below to view larger and for full information - Catalogue of works: 1-40 | Installation Views pics 41-60

HILARIE MAIS : Other Nature - Galerie Düsseldorf 18 June - 16 July 2006

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THE WEST AUSTRAliAN WEEKENDEXTRA Page 13 VISUAL ARTS SATURDAY,JULY 1. 2006 Ric Spencer Energising the grid For nearly 20 years now Hilarie Mais has been extrapolating on the grid. Mais is a good example of an artist who has made a construct her own. Considering the baggage the grid carries as a modernist archetype and its use in many forms of abstraction, this is pretty impressive. I haven't seen a solo show of her work before so it is fascinating to see how the works interact and how she formulates a composite narrative through the pieces. I say pieces because Mais' work could equally be described as sculpture, painting or installation. This fluidity between labels is just one aspect that helps Mais shift her grids beyond any form of contained reading. Other Nature at Galerie Düsseldorf is a slow pond of work. Deep, drifting and reflective, the show as a whole augments a soulful reading, all the more amazing again because of her obsession with the grid. But it's probably because it is an obsession that I got a fully immersed and focused energy from these works. And the energy is there to see; Mais is not overly neurotic about covering up the making - another paradox in her use of the grid - and her layering, building and construction are clearly visible. There are several readings one can get from this, like the personal subversion of constructed and formalised living or the freeing spirituality of making an icon your own by investing it with your energy. But it is probably more enjoyable to go through the process of making with Mais in her works and then step back to see how they work on a purely visual level- because they do surprise the eye. Rain is a muting of various warm and cool hues. Like most of the works in the larger front gallery, it is an open construction of painted and crossed wooden rods. This work really shows off Mais' confidence in her beloved grid format. The subtle skill making and allowance of the form to work its own magic show an artist in control of her process. The crossings on the grid blur the colour scheme, on this occasion pushing the paint at an angle to reveal an abstracted lightly falling shower. Mais' grid allows depth to the vision and shows on a very simple and skillfully orchestrated level how to take the viewer's eye on a journey. Shaft, Rise and Shift each in their own way also use the open-ended form of the grid to expand the viewer's vision. In the works at Galerie Düssledorf it's great to see an artist well-versed in the power of the constructed form and its cultural associations, how we react to archetypes, and how our minds make these forms cognisant on so many levels. Image reproduced: Shaft Catalogue number 2, From Hilarie Mais' Other Nature exhibition at Galerie Düsseldorf.