Connecting Thread

Robert Brain, Sarah Contos, Sylvia Griffin, Elizabeth Pulie, Mona Ryder

19 July to 22 August 2019

Opened on Saturday 27 July by Lizzie Marshall

The Grace Cossington Smith Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Connecting Thread. The conceptually and aesthetically rich selection of works reveals each artist pursuing personal interests such as transitions and rituals in life and the unravelling and reconnecting of history and personal narratives.
As Lizzy Marshall notes in the catalogue essay to the exhibition:
‘A structured thread is formed from ideas. Moreover, artworks within Connected Thread are not inert twine nor objects from centuries of tradition. These artworks are a weaving of the conceptual and the material. Each artwork is an invisible performative action by the artist interweaving the political, cultural, autobiographical into an intractable understanding of the contemporary present through the audience experience.’

Connecting Thread includes works by the following artists:
Robert Brain: now living in the Blue Mountains Brain is a tapestry artist who commenced work as an Africa-based anthropologist. His subject matter combines autobiographical narratives with elements from more celebrated art icons.

Sarah Contos: as a Sydney and Perth based artist Contos uses theatrical devices in framing her assemblages and installations. She is represented by
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington and STATION Gallery, Melbourne

Sylvia Griffin: is a multi-discipline artist and writer living in Sydney. Her work explores contemporary art and trauma and notions of memory and collective grief from a personal perspective.

Elizabeth Pulie: A recent shift to the use of textiles and fibres, hessian, jute, cotton or linen, and craft techniques such as embroidery in combination with painting represents her interest in craft applications and a sense of the feminine as a potentially critical concern. Pulie is represented by Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney

Mona Ryder: Queensland born Ryder explores themes of domesticity, gender politics and memory through her multi-media practice.

(Image above: Sarah Contos Cocktails and Dreams, 2017, metallic fabric, aluminium, epoxy, poly-fil, thread, hard-wares, 228 x 100 x 25 cm Courtesy of the artist Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney)