Inside Out – Lisa Patterson

Lisa Patterson’s meticulously handcrafted objects incorporate elemental materials such as wood, bone, gold leaf and lead. Some are able to be opened like small wooden hinged ‘books’. They invest simple motifs with a sense of mystery and revelation, offering the viewer glimpses of hidden forms in an allusion to religious icons and hidden worlds. This sense of secrecy and wonder is supported by the small scale of many of Lisa’s works and the artisanal nature of the shaping and carving involved in their production. They reflect the respect she holds for the materials and the rituals and processes of making the objects.

The works shown in Inside Out allude to the ancient tradition of religious relics – parts of the human body collected, worshipped and often copied to meet the demands of the tourist trade. Here, the “relic” is an excised section of a branch, carefully treated and painted or reiterated in a blatant fake. In these and her small, hinged icon-like objects the artist explores the notion of ‘inside out’ and the seductive promise of revelation suggested by the painted cores and secret interiors.