Shelf's eclectic mix

Shelf Life, at Galerie Düsseldorf in Mosman Park, is another Festival show concerned with the passage of time.

It is an eclectic mix of works by various artists, with the theme an exploration of the connection between us and the endlessly fashion in objects, ideas, philosophies and, indeed, art styles.

The artists involved have come at this show from all angles and this diversity of approach lends itself to some very enjoyable viewing. From tripping over Louise Paramor's plastic treasure collection at the front door and then bumping into BruceSlatter's miniature bus stop, this show has a real oddities shop feel about it.
Pamela Gaunt has cut up her curtains and shows pieces of them stuck to the wall like Brothers' Grimm illustrations. The work delves into the mists of parent-child communication and the lag time that makes the language of each generation's stories unique

Tom Muller and Janet Laurence occupy one wall and together they tackle the shifting landscape that is the political and geographical map of time. No small task.

On the wall backing on to these works is a fabulously witty work by Simon Gevers that consists of an oversize sponge and a bucket. The big sponge in Gevers' Wet Shelf is fixed to a temporary wall and without giving too much away the wall has a cavity which contains a water container and funnel. A drip of water agonizingly gathers at the centre of the sponge to fall into the bucket. It's a mantra to sit through the build up.

Surprisingly for a show concerned with time, Gevers' Work is one of only three that use time-material. Doug Sheerer, co-director of Düsseldort uses time-lapse digital photography to explore the passing of light in the forest undergrowth. The piece successfully blends archival footage with the imminence of light.

Sarah Elson has pushed the boundaries between digital video and object in her piece Hemopoiesis, a look at the female body and its relationship to the passing of fashionable philosophies. A DVD of a fly being lured to menstrual blood sits next to a levitating praying mantis symbolically straddling a knitting needle in an ode to feminist iconography.

Both Gevers and Elson incorporate an ironical stance to stylistic fashions, indeed Gevers' sponge seems to be asking about the shelf life of thematically based curatorial shows themselves.

Any bets?

Ric Spencer
The West Australian - Weekend Extra
Saturday 5 March 2005 Page 13