- Venue
- Tension Art Gallery, 135 Maple Rd, London, SE20 8LP www.tensionfineart.co.uk
- Location
- London
On each side of the gallery, small prints, square and identical in size, are methodically arranged in a grid pattern. Each print appears both as a stand-alone as well as part of a single work wrapped around the walls of the gallery space.
Paulger’s intuitive and fluid use of strong, bright colours communicates a sense of spontaneity, fun and life. The gallery itself seems to be bursting, humming even with joyful energy. Hot, blinding and frivolous at first glance, the viewer is drawn in instantly.
With closer attention, it becomes clear that Paulger’s choice of colour, pattern and text is more than accidental. For example, the text in her work appears as incidental mutterings: half-whispered, overheard or not-quite-visible. Her unfinished phrases, like peripheral thoughts that can’t be fully grasped, lose us and guide us at the same time. It is hard to tell whether these are extremely deep, superficial, serious, or ironic. The effect of trying to read something ‘important’ too, orchestrates a slower approach to looking. I love this tactic – it effectively stops me in my tracks and demands greater effort. Unexpectedly, looking has become seeing and thinking. Meaning-making is inevitable.
Comparing and contrasting each single print is a natural and unsought response. I notice myself moving around the gallery, tilting my head and shifting my position to take in new views across the exhibition space. It quickly becomes evident that prints on one wall connect with others on other walls – there are partners and families of prints and the invisible connections between them fill the gallery space. I am swept along by this physicality and the joy of looking again and noticing more.
Paulger uses reclaimed materials without value and sustainable processes like silkscreen printing. Her exquisite choice of colour and carefully engineered, half-expressed messages, however, offer a stark contrast to the disposable card, paper and wood in her work. She reminds us of the preciousness of our resources in this way.
Paulger’s work communicates a sense of futility and impermanence albeit reframed as joyful energy and life.
