Plastics ONO

Oh dear, the light in the garbage can isn't on, it should be!

New Digital Media

Sarah Goffman transforms the prosaic, the banal and the mundane. In the way of a latter day alchemist she turns cloned plastics and packaging, the discards and neglected items of consumerist, throwaway cultures into unique, decorative objects of desire. The repurposing and hand fashioning is apparent in the wry but apposite title, ‘new digital media” given to her latest group of works. She has been working with plastic and collecting and reinterpreting everyday items for over twenty years and immersing herself in Asian cultures, particularly in Japan. Since 2009 she has undertaken artist residencies under the auspices of Asialink and the Australia Council and worked and exhibited with contemporary artists. Many of her works are a fusion of Asian and Australian sensibilities she describes as “…being derivative of a Silk Road ethos, via China and Japan to Australia, of taking found objects or discarded materials and transforming them into beautiful and precious things.” Sarah Goffman’s approach can be likened to a form of visual Chinese Whispers. A shelf installation of line drawings in blue marker pen on Mylar, was conceived for this exhibition while leafing through a Japanese digital technology catalogue. One panel suggests a computer motherboard, but it and other of the drawings are all traced in the style of blue and while Willow Pattern ceramics and Chinoiserie textiles. A lo-fi video, a painterly, scanned video-scape of merged and blurred surfaces, some shiny some matte, all rich reds, is shot in the streets of Sydney. But this abstract vision is greatly distanced from the detailed and articulated assembly line engineered machinery and sleek commercial advertisements for the ultimate consumer object of desire that is the red car. Sarah Goffman’s practice spans, painting, drawing, sculpture, video and performance. Integral to all aspects is the philosophical conundrum of “When does one thing cease to be itself and become another?” Her assemblages describe an historical materialism and a legacy of visual exchange across cultures marked by an underlying quiet but potent and subversive irony. Barbara Dowse Curator

Hard Rubbish 2013

As part of the exhibition Camouflage at Sydney College of the Arts. This piece contains found, made, collected, altered and assembled material objects. There were 450 items in total.

On the floor I spelt out "THIS IS A PAINTING" in objects.

Red

Install view

Details

Plastics, sellotape, lights

I am obsessed with red. It actually looks quite pink in some places, but I don't care. I love it, I love it glowing with light behind it, it makes me so happy to see it. I need to take some more photos to show you what it looks like from outside, 'cos you see the insides of the bags, and there is something architectural about their appearance, collated in a random formation. I had been working on this piece for months, and some of the plastics were from the 1990's. I remember making a red centre box out of Grace Bros. bags for a show in Darwin at 24 hour art in 2001 for Eco-boutique with Josie Cavallaro and Lisa Kelly. That was the first time I conjoined in this way.

Plastics

Here is my plastic bag collection.
Photo: Margaret Roberts

1. I love the way plastics can be bundled up, and squashed, then laid out again and re-flattened. They have a memory, physically, and can become impregnated with scents. I notice very few used bags in our affluent society. Occasionally someone on the train will have their trusty favourite that they use regularly, and you can see how the colour has evaporated around the handles, however it is quite rare.
2. I was asked recently why I focused on plastics. Perhaps because I grew up in the USA and was a victim of polyester! For sure because of the environmental impact, but also because they symbolise our affluence, and neglect as well. But growing up in New York city in the 70's and 80's there were various artists who made sculptural works in abandoned lots, using garbage they'd create fantastic art works. I found these very inspirational. I would watch the barges go down the East River laden with millions of bags of rubbish. Even as a child I was incredulous that these got dumped out at sea. Sick! The synthetic nature of petrochemicals and their impact on our everyday life is one that I am examining.
3. Maybe Christo has something to do with it? Or Jeff Wall? Later, in the 90's I saw work by Mikala Dwyer and Hany Armonious. I knew I was amongst friends. Nowadays I can list dozens of artists, just locals who work with the stuff, and I love it. Anne Kay! Josie Cavallaro! Lisa Kelly! Kathy Cavaliere! Simon Yates! Simon Cavanough! Nick Strike! Caz Haswell! Jason Markou! Michelle Hanlin!

I wish I were bigger

Plastic bag spray painted, tree limb from outside, string, paper silhouettes






















Detail
photocopied cash, spraypainted found board, found brick, tea, buttons, lights, hot glue, found carpet, paint

Plastic Reality

This was made for a group show at MOP curated by Koji Riju.

It is a simulation of a real event in my bathroom where a praying mantis came and sat on a pink jellyfish hanging on the wall. It is made from hot glue, paint, string and a jelly cup container.

2003