White Rabbit Gallery – Supernatural
Image: Song Ling, Wildlife 2, 2017.
“This is an exhibition of works that make sense of things that make no sense,” said Aiden Mackay, one of White Rabbit Gallery’s art attendants.
A guided tour reveals virtual reality as the new reality and rubbish strewn landscapes as a “prevalent terror facing us all.”
Expect to find hybrid creatures half man, half dragonfly projected from the ceiling and black spots stuck to the wall, which are in actual fact ceramic pieces, depicting an oil spill. Apparently when left on the gallery floor people thought they were stepping stones.
Alana Wesley, another of the gallery’s dedicated attendants points out the need to represent the ‘shadowy world of contradictory memory’ where one is never sure of what is real. The ancient Chinese believed that gods lived in the mountains and immortals dwelt in caves. Supernatural beings once inhabited the landscape, co-existing in a harmonious equilibrium of yin and yang but the earth and its inhabitants are now endangered by urbanisation and industry. A mixture of modern and ancient techniques fuse together in a dreamlike photo lense to get this concept across.
The influences of 20th century American abstract paintings are clearly visible as are influences of Medieval ideologies. In fact, Hieronymus Bosch’s hallucinogenic medieval vision of Heaven And Hell, was the inspiration for Zhou Xiaohu to make his dystopian video, Garden of Earthly Delights in which marionettes, act out the fables in bleak post-industrial locations.
A cautionary tale for a world on the brink of environmental catastrophe. This is a stunning exhibition which combines creative skills, philosophies and ideologies and is both an inspiration and a catalyst for change.
Until Feb 3. White Rabbit Gallery, 30 Balfour St, Chippendale. FREE. Info: www.whiterabbitcollection.org
By Renee Dallow
