Mulgrave Building

The Paradox of Things features assemblage and mixed media works by three Cairns artists, Barbara Dover, Julie Poulsen and Jennifer Valmadre. This exhibition delves into the idea of paradox where a seemingly absurd proposition or thing combines contradictory or self-contradictory qualities. A paradox also can contain truths and be well-founded.

Drawing on found objects, unexpected materials and inventive processes, and ideas of contradiction and inconsistency, these artists create ambiguous and impossible physical structures. They invite our attention to the materiality of puzzling spatial forms, and reveal different and distinctive interpretations of the nature of materials and objects.

The exhibition also turns a playful eye on the conventions of gallery display itself. Artworks are frequently presented on white plinths of varying dimensions. The work presented in The Paradox of Things incorporates a plinth-like structure, hence the plinth becomes part of the work.

Dover, Poulsen and Valmadre all have singular artistic practices, but also enjoy working cooperatively within larger groups. The many years of teaching alongside each other at TAFE was a unifying experience for them, particularly consolidating their work ethic and approaches to creativity. Although, having worked together extensively with other artists, this is their first collaborative exhibition. While they have established distinctive individual practices, their artwork shows a shared interest in experimentation, which expands the range of the materials, media, and processes used for their work. The individual works by each artist in the exhibition are distinguishable, however some works are collaborations where the artists have shared in the process of creating a single work.

Paradox, of course, is not confined to art. It runs through everyday life and language, captured in phrases such as ‘youth is wasted on the young’, ‘the only constant is change’ and ‘the more you know, the more you know you don’t know’. An example of a well-known paradox is ‘Catch-22: an impossibly difficult situation in which the solution is also the cause of the problem’.

In this exhibition, these three Far North Queensland artists bring together the gamut of their knowledge, skills and experience to present works that question, challenge and surprise.