Plastic Oh No: Opening Friday 4 April 6 – 8pm, Will be open Saturday 5 March: 11 – 5pm & Sunday 6 March: 11 – 5 pm.

Artists: Rox De Luca, Sarah Goffman, Annie Magdalena Lærkesen, Sarah Newall, Penny Polkinghorne, Mark Titmarsh.

Synthesis of the Elements

Plastic is the wonder of the age, but it has become an enigma to us, we can hardly even see it anymore and don’t even notice it when we just throw it away. It has also become the shifting target in a mood of environmental resentment. But plastic is not the problem, rather the way we relate to plastic is.

As plastic builds up in landfill and billabongs, it uses its own elemental intelligence to signal to us that we have a problem in communication. It is saying don’t use me like this, don’t throw me away, use me like anything else that lasts for 300 years. However the cheapness, lightness and transparency of plastic make it eminently fit for disappearance. Yet its strength to weight ratio makes it stronger and more durable than wood or steel. It is highly shape-able, hence its name, and is perfect for life style creation bending to any shape we desire.

It creates the form of virtually everything we use from our phones to clothes and cars. It literally wants to make our lives more wonderful but we subject it instead to domestic violence, unless of course you are an artist. With art, plastic begins to re-appear, to feel at home, respected and projected into new foregrounds.  Out of plastic anything can be synthesised, just as with paint any image or non-thing can be shaped. In fact a very fine line exists between the petro-chemical nature of plastics, glue and paint.  Each begins to mimic the other and so plastic becomes a social glue, a medium of colour and a challenge to see.

Mark Titmarsh

Plastic Oh No (installation image). Pic: J. Polkinghorne

Plastic Oh No (installation image). Pic: J. Polkinghorne

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: Huna Te Kiri (Skin/ Hide), 2014, (Hanging Sculpture), installation view. Lycra, plastic bottles

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: Huna Te Kiri (Skin/ Hide), 2014, (Hanging Sculpture), installation detail. Lycra, plastic bottles

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: Huna Te Kiri (Skin/ Hide), 2014, (Hanging Sculpture), installation view Lycra, plastic bottles

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: installation view

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: installation view

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: Totem – Polyethylene Terephthalate (frames digital print)

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: The Dance of Tohunga, Hakuturi & Tane Mahuta (Clothe me, Protect me, Keep mewarm), 2014. Framed digital prints

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: The Dance of Tohunga, Hakuturi & Tane Mahuta (Clothe me, Protect me, Keep mewarm), 2014. Framed digital prints

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: The Dance of Tohunga, Hakuturi & Tane Mahuta (Clothe me, Protect me, Keep mewarm), 2014. Framed digital prints

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: The Dance of Tohunga, Hakuturi & Tane Mahuta (Clothe me, Protect me, Keep mewarm), 2014. Framed digital prints

Annie Magdalena Lærkesen: The Dance of Tohunga, Hakuturi & Tane Mahuta (Clothe me, Protect me, Keep mewarm), 2014. Framed digital prints

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Rox de Luca: Saved Bundles I- V, 2014. found plastics, wire

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Sarah Goffman: Blues and Greens 2014. plastic, size variable, detail

Penny Polkinghorne: Waiting for Ulysses, 2014 polyethalene, ppolypropylene, plastic bags, polyester and nylon flags, banners and gift ribbons, nylon fruit and onion bags

Penny Polkinghorne: Waiting for Ulysses, 2014 polyethalene, ppolypropylene, plastic bags, polyester and nylon flags, banners and gift ribbons, nylon fruit and onion bags

Mark Titmarsh: Looking through a piece of Plastic, 2014. Acrylic glass, plastic string, 20 x 20 x 20cm

Mark Titmarsh: Looking through a piece of Plastic, 2014. Acrylic glass, plastic string, 20 x 20 x 20cm

Sarah Newall: Plastic Blobs (orange, dark orange, red, dark red), 2014, bio-plastic

Sarah Newall: Plastic Blobs (orange), 2014, bio-plastic

Sarah Newall: Plastic Blobs (dark orange), 2014, bio-plastic

Sarah Newall: Plastic Blobs (red), 2014, bio-plastic

Sarah Newall: Plastic Blobs (dark red), 2014, bio-plastic