Moller, Vera. 2023. Verdana no. 2. Paper collage sculpture. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, Australia.
Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of Vera Moller's Verdana no. 2, 2023.
On 27 August 2023, I eagerly visited Vera Moller’s exhibition Sea.Liquid.Sensation.Flux.Space at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. I have long admired her small sculptures of coral reefs and sea life, seen at the Sophie Gannon Gallery and also in exhibition publications such as Water (Saines et al. 2019, 133). In fact I referred to one of her works in my first Fine Art Studio 2 report (Cole 2023b).
The exhibition included the sculptures that I expected to see, as well as evocative paintings of fluid forms, suggestive of kelp. However my overall impression was one of crowding, as there were so many works in the two gallery spaces. For me the density of the installation was a distraction. Indeed I was concerned about colliding with the floor and table based sculptures of the undersea.
This dossier update focussed on the work verdana no. 2. 2023. The paper collage based sculpture was suspended from the ceiling, mid room. Resembling the leaves of a giant kelp plant, the sculpture swayed gently with air currents. While I would not seek to replicate the materiality of the work, its size, staging and performative aspects intrigued me, and suggest possibilities for my own work.
My reaction to the crowded installation (i.e, its affect (Hickey-Moody 2013, 85-86)) also reminds me of the need to curate my work for the impact on the viewer, rather than my desire to show everything.
Bibliography:
Cole, Elizabeth. 22 August 2023 2023b. Hiding in plain sight: Studio 2 Reflective Feedback report. RMIT University.
Hickey-Moody, Anna. 2013. "Chapter 4 Affect as Method: Feelings, Aesthetics ad Affective Pedagogy." In Deleuze and research methodologies edited by Rebecca Coleman and Jessica Ringrose, 79-95. Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh, United Kingdom).
Saines, Chris, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Don Henry, Alexis Wright, Judy Watson, Bonita Ely, Ruby Djikarra Alderton, Paul Blackmore, Megan Cope, Lola Greeno, and Wukun Wanambi. 2019. Water. South Brisbane, Queensland: Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art.
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