John Dahlsen’s objects arrive on the incoming tide; left high and dry at the highest point of the beach. They are deposited randomly, challenging the artist to make sense of this act and to coerce some semblance of order out of chaos.
Each wave deposits a new offering, creating a visual archaeology that charts the ebb and flow of our lives.
Objects are pummelled, abraded and weatherworn; bleached like the bones of long dead animals. They speak of the natural order of life.
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Man-made objects, however, retain their sharp and iridescent colours and hues; beacons on a sun-bleached surface. These objects speak of the way we discard what we consider to be of little importance.
Dahlsen reprocesses these into objects of complexity and beauty, constructing a landscape out of the discarded.
John Dahlsen is a Bower Bird who entices us into his world of layered meanings with the allure of his constructions.
Dahlsen’s paintings and works on paper precede his interest in the assemblages but are an indicator to the direction that he was to take in his oeuvre.
His paintings are constructed with over-laying images that veil the original marks and are as complex as our lives. The titles reflect the nature of the works: totemic and symbolic (read Hieroglyphic).
Dahlsen approaches these works in the same manner as his assemblages by placing each series of marks in a construction that adds new meaning to each layer. Each mark is purposeful. Each layer has meaning.
The images have depth and movement; each layer washes us to the next point. With Dahlsen’s work, however we are not left marooned.
There is hope for us yet because out of mundane and ubiquitous waste evolves an awakening to the beauty in what we treasure the least.
The charcoal works on paper reflect the nature of the found objects; abraded and rubbed smooth. Each mark is a purposeful addition to the next. The raw energy of the ciphers scratches across the surface.
Some marks are rubbed as if to obliterate the act of its creation; a change of mind and direction.
So it is with the work of John Dahlsen.
By Gary Corbett: Gallery Director Tweed River Regional Art Gallery
