On the Horizon
Glass by Lisa Cahill.
Bilk Gallery for Contemporary Metal and Glass.
On until September 20.
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Lisa Cahill has called this exhibition On the Horizon and it is obvious that the indeterminate space that exists between land, sea and sky has been the inspiration for so many of her misty, moody images.
The exhibition at the Bilk Gallery was a pleasant surprise. The artist's work is usually on a larger scale than I would have envisaged fitting into the rather bijou space at the Bilk Gallery. The artist has conceived this exhibition with the gallery space very much in mind with the result that the work sits very easily within it. Cahill's small glass plaques that are at the heart of the exhibition take the place of the usual jewellery in the glass cabinets. These small wall plaques (7 X 4cm to approx. 13 x 17cm) fit comfortably into these glass wall cabinets. Three round blown-glass vessels, two standing panels and a wall sculpture complete the exhibition.
The collection of small plaques works well as single works but they can also be arranged in small groups. This grouping is not unlike Cahill's major works on a larger scale where postcard-size glass panels are assembled in multiples to make one imposing wall piece. The artist used this concept for a prestigious commission called Breathe in 2009. This 43-square metre installation consists of over 1250 postcard-size pieces of honey-coloured and clear glass and is situated on a wall in a building at 149 Castlereagh Street in Sydney. The Breathe installation directly relates to the work in this exhibition called Breeze made in 2014. Breeze consists of ninety-six postcard size panels of glass in sea and sky tones of green and blue glass. They are pinned to the wall separately at the top edges in a grid pattern. Their light-crinkled corners and surfaces are artfully constructed to suggest the soft and playful passage of air and remind me of handkerchiefs on a clothesline blowing in a soft breeze.
Cahill's small panels in blues, greens and icy whites make an impact more dramatic than their small scale would suggest. Blue Landscape – Study#2 is an especially evocative image. Cahill uses a wonderful deep, intense, moody blue coloured glass that she is particularly conversant with to conjure images that suggest the light just after sunset. I have also seen the same blue in stormy seas. It seems to represent the mysterious unknowable depths of the sea. By way of a mood change, another small standing panel Virga Study has the blue sky and clouds of a bright and clear summer day. Shades of Night is in the form of three rectilinear panels - a format Cahill uses quite frequently. Although these panels are small enough to fit into the glass wall cabinet, they nonetheless have a surprisingly powerful impact. They are made from beautiful blue glass and they glow with an intensity of light appropriate to their jewel-like setting. In another work (Green) #2 from the Traces series, the glass is more opaque and the surface more turbulent with painterly areas of green, white and dark blue enamelled glass. This creates the illusion of a more substantial landscape with a palpable sense of depth and space.
There are three round glass vessels that are particularly beautiful. Becloud #4 from the Blown Series is in blue glass with a dark blue lip; the inside interior is a glimpse of sea green glass. The outside of the vessel has been coated in a glass powder before firing that has resulted in a matt white surface that is slightly crazed. Cahill has ground back this surface at the widest area of the vessel to reveal the shining green glass beneath. The meeting of the matt, powered surface and the glass beneath creates a horizon – a line of demarcation that is particularly evocative of the transition that takes place between sky, land and sea. A space that is in transit - unknowable and unreachable.
The illusionistic images Cahill has created in glass remind me of the paintings of the well-known Japanese artist Sesshu Toyo (1420-1506) whose scroll painting Broken-ink landscape I saw recently in the Tokyo National Museum. Both artists create misty worlds that evoke landscapes even though much more is suggested than is evident. Sesshu Toyo creates his mountain landscapes with barely perceptible brush strokes while Cahill uses the glass makers' arts of enamelling glass and carving and polishing it to get the magical effects she wants. Neither artist prescribes a particular view but suggests an illusionary space in which the viewer is free to wander at will on their own personal journey.
Lisa Cahill is a very well-known glass artist whose work has won her several prestigious commissions. She has been a finalist in the Ranamok and Tom Malone Glass prizes and in recent years the recipient of two residencies at the Canberra Glassworks. Currently Lisa Cahill is one of the Directors of the Bilk Gallery so she has had a lot of time to consider her work in relation to its gallery space.
This is a beautiful exhibition and has been somewhat of a change of pace for the artist. The thoughtful scaling down of her work has had its own rewards as Cahill has discovered she enjoys working on a small scale and may pursue this discovery into the future.