Tiny Details, Grotesque Proportions
2008
Elizabeth Rowe’s solo exhibition features work on opposing scales; from small, intricate paper-based collages to large, commanding compositions – all brought together through the use of mass-produced printed material and a signature lo-tech aesthetic.
Within her works, an assembly of images painstakingly cut out from a plethora of printed sources – newspapers, shopping catalogues and billboards – are reconfigured in a manner which suggests a more viral approach: images of technological devices are repeated and replicated at an uncontrollable rate whilst figures dance across scenes of natural wonders and man-made disasters. It is questionable whether these new narratives are anything but accidental.
The process of collecting, sorting and re-ordering the selected images from an over whelming supply of original material, reveals an attempt to gain control over forces outside of our power. As Rowe suggests an alternative reality, this new environment hangs in the balance: one wrong move and the whole composition could tumble down before our eyes. Carefully constructed so each component relies on its neighbour for support, her collages reflect a fluctuating world where even the smallest change could cause epic results.
The exhibition also features a number of drawings created directly on to newspaper pages and here, Rowe has used layers of ink to mask over images of political and environmental concern. An abundance of images are paired down to a careful edit where palm trees are edged with gold and melting ice caps present no threat – the rest remains out of sight, and purposefully out of mind.