Still Matter October 2015, Sullivan + Strumpf

In her fifteenth solo exhibition titled Still Matter, Joanna Lamb presents a new body of work that continues an ongoing examination of the arrangement of interior and exterior suburban spaces that surround our everyday life.

Whether utilising paint, print, neon or Laminex, the philosophy behind her application of these mediums remains true. Each of her cool, hard-edged and highly refined compositions are disciplined exercises in the arrangement of line, shape and colour. Rigorous consideration is given to the formal dynamics in constructing these images, either individually or augmenting a collective set of works.

Central to this exhibition is a suite of eight large scale interrelated collages constructed from laser-cut Laminex shapes. Lamb’s approach to working with this commonplace domestic material somewhat references the repetitive techniques employed in her screen printed artworks. By using laser-cut Laminex she creates multiple compositions which are pieced together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.

All eight works feature an image of the same generic domestic interior setting comprising of a dining room table and chairs. Like her paintings and screen prints, Lamb reduces this image to its basic elemental form and strips it of any superfluous detail, resulting in a composition that alternates between figuration and abstraction. The colour palette is also condensed to eight flat hues with their placement reconfigured in each consecutive collage. The only exception is a single plant motif seen through a window which is constantly rendered in green within each reinterpretation of the image.

Lamb’s choice of subject matter references her own experiences of living within these suburban environments as well as images found in real estate magazine and internet advertisements. Her interpretation of these settings is detached and the reduction and repetition technique she employs makes homely spaces, un-homely. This modus operandi also references the notion of the great Australian dream home and questions the flat and tedious aesthetic of our ever sprawling suburban landscape.