Caroline Rothwell, Borderlands
Installations Views. Foreground:
Attendants (after Schongauer) 2012
Attendants Max, Molly, Sam, Jake
and trees on plywood topography
Britannia metal, hardware and plywood
200 x 182 x 192 cm approx
‘Attendants (after Schongauer)’ takes its cue from an early but influential engraving by German artist Martin Schongauer ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’ c1470s… Rothwell’s ‘Attendants’ follow in the image of Schongauer’s devils, mingling the grotesque and fantastic. However, her gathering of creatures is without an object of malice; perched on plinths (or suspended from above) among a grove of trees, they radiate a sinister but undirected energy. Hence they read as symbols – or perhaps symptoms – of a more general humanistic angst, perpetuated by the status quo of an increasingly unstable world: politically, environmentally, and economically.’
collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales