Fragile structures project and expand in unplanned growth.
Lines – define volumes and transparencies to explore movement,
form – an illusive, simultaneous grasp of life,
exploring boundaries of formal definition of the
relationship and tension between like and unlike.

Carlier Makigawa
February 2012

In Carlier Makigawa’s work, it’s often as much what is unsaid, or unframed, that speaks clearest. Areas of absence become vivid: they move in symbiosis with the carefully constructed cages that surround them. Pale, white silver hints at the ephemeral – at something that might easily slip away – while dense, blackened silver seems determined to draw a line against impermanence. Pieces of coral are caught and held almost tenderly, their bright splashes of colour a counterpoint to and reinforcement of the negative spaces around them. ‘Nature and structure’ is an exhibition by one of Australia’s most accomplished artists working at the height of her powers.