Cassandra Hard Lawrie

Distillation
cardboard, paverpol, resin, pigment 1440 x 880 x 880mm
Undercliff Winery, Wollombi 2007
sponsored by Paverpol Australia
‘Distillation’ is a name for one of the secret stages of the Alchemic process. The vessel like shape of this sculpture is drawn from references to apparatus used by alchemists and ‘puffers’. Although uninformed as to the exact use of such apparatus, due to the hermetic nature of alchemy Cassandra retrieves this obscure and enigmatic image from the past, and ‘re-embodyies’ it into a naïve sculptural image—a displaced semantic image—opening up questions on the transient nature of meaning and further the nature of ‘belief’.

In this work the ‘esoteric’ symbolises the opposition of insider/outsider and familiar and unfamiliar. The uninformed viewer is ‘outside’ the secret coding of the esoteric image, yet as a historic referent it is familiar at a deeper level of the psyche. The possibility of familiarity with historical knowledge at a ‘deeper’ level discords with one’s life-acquired knowledge. Cassandra is interested in the nature of contemporary transience due to technology and multi-culturalism and the subsequent shifting nature of belief and meaning.

Cassandra is sponsored by Paverpol Australia. An excellent fabric hardener that dries fast creating a UV and water resistant bond. It can be used on any natural material such as silk, soft leather, self-hardening clay, cardboard, polystyrene foam, wood, plaster, ceramic and more. It adheres to almost anything except plastic and is perfect for a number of contemporary sculptural applications.