Stars 2010 - 2011

AlexDipple is captivated by the transitory architecture of newspapers and periodicals. Punctuation, and visual tools such as ‘info graphics’ and the use of colour, once intended to help readers navigate and prioritize content, become the subject of her work. Text boxes, ratings stars, horizontal rules and punctuation are sliced from their source and distilled into dense microbial groups. These conspiracies of clippings are re-arranged to fill spaces that hint of infinity, and to a stillness left by the settled dust of yesterdays stories.

These works are durational and iterative, a distillation of numerous discreet moments that reveals the sediment of past days.Collected over months and years each dot, box or line is as specific as the text from which it was lifted. The tiny fragments establish physical relationships with obscure documents and newsprint ephemera. Fleeting design anomalies that evolve over periods of time, often to disappear abruptly, focus and impose restraints on Alexs practice.

These works reference Islamic art. Its search for the transcendental through mathematics and pattern making. The work explores a longing to intensify experience and an understanding that the blizzard of digitally produced data is corrupted by the fragility of the materials used and the physical presence of the artist in every cut and placement. The laborious and robotic process also signals Albert Camus’ existential idea of ‘rebellious repetition’ whereby action creates conscious immersion in repetition to subvert the recurrence and absurdity of daily life.