The Curtain Breathed Deeply – Justene Williams
With The Curtain Breathed Deeply, artist Justene Williams has produced an aural and visual omelette that both entices and confronts.
The installation begins with a stark white ute supporting a trio of screens simultaneously displaying images of chequered fingers, vaginas, and a distorted digital shaman who invites the visitor to continue their journey.
A series of rooms hosts intriguing displays of visual decadence and aural discombobulation. In one, masked figures and plastic owls gaze upon a wading pool which doubles as a wishing well. In another, a natural landscape is playfully dismantled.
This extensive collection of video art and sculptural experiment is a dissonant stroll through the paths of uncharted imagination. The vibrant colours and random noises suggest a rough passage through a storm-tossed sea, but the perturbed subjects are somehow comforted through the raging tempest.
With this show Artspace continues a tradition of provocative exhibitions which elongate the boundaries of abstraction. (LR)
Until Aug 10, Artspace, 43 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo, free, artspace.org.au