Lisa Stockham

22 November 2013 - 15 January 2014

"And I took the little book from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, butwhen I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter"

'Lisa Stockham reviews the use of pattern, decoration and textile imagery. A mix of sources from antiqueartefacts, junk shops and eroded architecture inspired the forms created. The work connotes theredundancy and renewal of an object, connecting the past with the present. They're in a state oftransition depicting the beauty of decay.

The work explores the surface texture and opulent excess, connecting decay and commerce. The works juxtapose the artificial and the organic, decoration and disintegration; commodity returning to theprimordial. The duality of decay and decoration is at their core, such as the floral series. Flowers that areusually associated with beauty and fertility become a metaphor for decomposition. The dual imagery withits dark undertone expresses the consequences of desire. The metamorphoses of materials express luxury mutating to decay, geometric artifice contrasting with organic fragmentation.

The objects are built up from pattern; the decoration becomes the structure. These works are inspired bytextile patterns, in particular the decorative detailing of both floral and geometric designs. The work feelslike cut sheets of fabric, frayed material or as if the form has been rebuilt from remains, becomingreminiscent of eroding architecture, sculptures or repaired crockery'.