CV

A Review by Isolde Davis AM.

All the Rivers - Artwork and concept by Christine Simpson

All the Rivers Don’t Run

The exhibition of nine mixed media sculptures is focused on Australia’s rivers drying up and in particular on the Darling system at the Queensland / New South Wales border. This phenomenon is perhaps due to overuse of water supplies, which because of global warming may never be replenished.

The title of the exhibition is striking and so are the seven sculptures hanging from the ceiling and two sculptures on opposing sides suspended from metal rods reminiscent of irrigation channels.

The River is epitomised in sculpture One Where is she? An ample convex form portrays her abundant water supply. However, this arched hollow plenitude, begins to lessen until it stretches out into a rivulet. Who is to blame for this parlous state of the River Darling ? The truth is hinted in sculpture Two Who is to blame? Who else but Man! In representing the human species Christine Simpson has symbolically incorporated their entrails into the protracted white form. At the same time these twisted forms half way in the sculpture can be interpreted as a reference to man’s hubris vis-à-vis nature.

Sculptures Three to Seven are entitled Mourning for the Darling. Each is portrayed in a minimalist form. Their elongated, over-streched and slightly sinuous forms with marks of decaying, bleached driftwood are covered with a white patina. White is the colour of mourning. Seen from the distance they merge into a group evoking sadness and a feeling of loss. However, on closer inspection the viewer notices slight colour touches in the patina and variations in forms that makes each sculpture different.

Sculpture Eight There is no Convergence represents a geographical fact and sculpture Nine Hope a very human desire, a longing for a favourable outcome. Sculpture Eight is very dramatic and tense. It consists of two parts in the Darling system. Where once upon a time the two parts were joined supplying life-giving water to nature - there is now a separating break, a negative space created by man. The drawn out sculpture Hope covered with white patina is marked with delicate green streaks which trickle into a chalice at the bottom end. Life may yet return to the waters…

The sculptor, Christine Simpson, has created a very topical and striking personal statement of what is happening at this very moment in Australia. All the many articles in the newspapers and the talk-fests about conserving water and global warming don’t make such a profound impression as her nine minimalist sculptures at the gallery, Factory 49, 49 Shepherd St, Marrickville, NSW.

Isolde Davis AM

13.10.2006

“Hope Pieces for the Murray Darling Basin”
Second part of the exhibition
“All the Rivers Don’t Run”
This exhibition is the logical sequence of its predecessor “All the Rivers Don’t Run”. In this exhibition the Rivers were epitomised in nine sculptures of which the last was entitled “Hope”. The sculpture was covered with a white patina and marked with delicate green streaks, which trickled into a chalice like form at the bottom of the sculpture. The suggestion being that life may yet return to the rivers, and gave the viewers some “Hope”. It also signalled a continuous exploration of the theme.
This “Hope” though slender and precarious has been explored in the present exhibition, hence the somewhat enigmatic title. “Hope Pieces for the Murray Darling Basin”. The title is not without a caveat. It seems that all is not yet well with the landscape and lack of water in the rivers. The title words “Hope Pieces”leave the viewer no doubt. The former orange orchards along the riverbanks were cut down and their trunks and branches covered with white lime to “put them to sleep” in order to preserve them from withering away for lack of water. The sculptor uses repetitions of themes with ample variations. In the continuation of her first exhibition depicting the harm done to the rivers and the environment by climate change, Christine Simpson created six sculptures 1.7 to 2 metres high, each with a circumference of 1 metre in acrylic resin with aluminium mesh and with a white patina. These sculptures represent the cut down and limed former orange trees. They are mounted on a black square pedestal surmounted with a steel plate with ball bearings. The ball bearings enable the trees to move in the slightest of breezes. The white tree trunks with white branches open up into a tree crown or a three leaved exotic orange blossom of vertical and horizontal lines. It is a most pleasing and balanced composition. The layout of the sculptures against a white background is impressive. The white colour of the background symbolises the salt rising to the surface with the receding waters. In some cultures it represents also the colour of mourning and is most appropriately used by Christine Simpson. The sculptor may have chosen the metaphor of the orange blossom to show that there is still life in the trees. The presence of life is also underscored by the faint green colouring of the edges of the tree crown and outlines of the superb orange blossoms, as well as the movement of the trees. The uneven surfaces of the sculptures are interestingly patterned by an addition of husks to the mixture. That is how the artist instilled “Hope” into the dormant not to say degraded landscape and its trees.
This two part exhibition is a most telling environmental statement that words could not achieve. How can you not be moved by what we are doing to our environment? The sculptor Christine Simpson is to be congratulated for vividly juxtaposing the harm done by the drying up of water resources and the public. She uses her prodigious talent to forcefully state what is happening in our country.
Isolde Davis AM

Christine Simpson

Contact Details

6 Laurel Road East
Ingleside NSW 2101
Ph: (02) 9970 8619
Website: http://www.christinesimpson.com.au