19.0 Same But Different

An exhibition of recent work by Louise McRae at Grey, 29 August to 9 September, 2023,

I was able to catch the final day of Whitecliffe Alumni Louise McRae’s exhibition Same But Different at The Grey Place in Ponsonby, Auckland. I had seen photographs of her work Red when it won the Waikato Society of Arts 2023 Small Sculpture Award and was instinctively drawn to it, noting that we were both working in that space between painting and sculpture and with similar materials. Noel had taught Louise when she did her Masters at Whitecliffe and he was able to organise a meeting with her at the gallery. It was such a treat to meet her, see her work up close, and hear her talk about it.

Louise McRae, Red, 2023. (Photograph by Dean Mcleod)

Louise has said of her winning work in the sculpture awards, “For me, this work is a celebration of material, of the world. I was looking for a tension between materials while having them speak the same dialect, the same secret language. The same and different.” 1

The success of the works in her exhibition comes from that tension between the contrasting materials and the way they look moments away from springing apart. They are almost animated because your mind fills in the before and after moments of their making. I could sense the struggle and force needed to bring them together and the lively uncoiling that could occur if the tethering dowel and clamps were taken away. Louise said that it was important for her to show the armatures of the works so that they had an ‘honesty’.

Louise McRae, Be Green, 2023, detail.

The works are physically held together by the armatures but colour holds them together as well. Each has a monochromatic hue. She imports the wool felt from Italy and there are limited colours available so in some of the works she has painted the felt to match the metal and wood. It was important for her to use wool felt not just because it was a superior product but she had a connection to it having grown up on a sheep farm. The single colour of each work emphasizes the differences in texture between the materials and holds subtle tonal variations brought about by the ripples, tucks, and concertinas.

Louise McRae, Be Blue, 2023.

Louise McRae, Be Black, 2023.

To me, the concertina effect made them reminiscent of some kind of musical instrument and gave them a rhythm of their own. They seem to twang and roll, repeat and return like an impromptu song played on found objects.

I have been using a very small amount of black felt in my own work. I'm interested in the way that it absorbs light and contrasts with the texture of the plywood and painted surfaces. I'll definitely be investigating this further.

1 “Award Winning Sculpture Same But Different”, Whitecliffe, accessed 12 September, 2023, https://www.whitecliffe.ac.nz/louise-mcrae-sculpture-red.