Traces

“In order to use colour effectively it is necessary to recognise that colour deceives continually.”
Josef Albers, Interaction of Color (1963)

Casting observations from her previous PG Gallery exhibition in 2020, Polly Gilroy presents a study of light and shadow in the gallery space. Taking cue from the reflections which cascaded across former bodies of work, Gilroy harnessed the light play in her own spatial manipulations. In this series, natural daylight not only interacts with her pieces but becomes the work itself as it falls through the differing opacities of the work’s surface. Departing from her use of the square, Gilroy’s exhibition showcases skewed perspective works which mimic the skewed angles of windows. We see a new angle from Gilroy in the form of their site-specific window installations. Each piece is made to fit it’s intended pane of glass, the viewer is invited to view the work from inside and out. Each interaction being truly unique as the daylight shifts throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Colour plays a pivotal role in Gilroy’s practice. Here, the artist manipulates the work’s reading by playing with opacity, gradient and shade transition. Where previous works have hummed with an inner glow, this body of work seeks to play with one’s perception of depth. This deception of light and shadow offers a new take on Gilroy’s practice, one of skilled layering, considered colour pairing and an overall moodiness which reads much like day seeping into night.

Polly Gilroy graduated from Massey University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with First Class Honours. She lives and practices here in Christchurch.

– Jess Adlam