exhibitions

JUSTIN ANDREWS, ANNA FINLAYSON, MATT HINKLEY, KYLE JENKINS, MASATO TAKASAKA, CURATED BY DANNY LACY

INVERTED TOPOLOGY

Collapsing the individual practices of five young geometric abstractionists into a single collaborative work in Gertrude Contemporary’s Main Gallery, Inverted Topology proved an aesthetically striking and conceptually intriguing exhibition developed by emerging curator Danny Lacy.

Challenging the structure and presentation of the traditional curated group show, the exhibition aimed to foster experimentation and allowed the artists to explore and use the gallery space in innovative new ways, under the theme “Inverted Topology”. To invert is to turn something upside down or inside out. Topology is the branch of geometry which studies those properties of figures or solid bodies, which remain invariant under all structural alterations. In relating this theme to the art that Andrews, Finlayson, Hinkley, Jenkins and Takasaka created, Inverted Topology signalled a rupture between the physical structures of their work; a break with the boundaries of their individual art practice, which resulted in a cross pollination of their work. As all of the artists deal in aspects of geometric abstraction, the collaboration resulted in an angular fusion of overwhelming geometric intensity. In the form of wall drawings and sculpture, the artists were able to blend their individual preoccupations with abstraction, interacting with and overlapping each other to have created a hybrid work which referenced abstract art, design, architecture and the urban landscape.
Initial stages of the Inverted Topology project, featuring the collaborative work of Hinkley and Takasaka, had been previously exhibited at Bus Gallery (Melbourne 2002) and First Draft Gallery (Sydney 2003).

The exhibition program featured a free floortalk from curator Danny Lacy.