Mitra Khorasheh has curated a fascinating exhibition of the paintings, sculptures, videos and performance art of Rachel Garrard title “VESSEL” at Gasser Grunert. All the work in the show is about geometry, a very personal geometry, based on the physical measurements of the artist’s body. In the press release from the show Garrard is quoted as saying: “I see the human body as a microcosm, a seed encompassing all the geometric and geodesic measures of the cosmos, as a container for something infinite”.

One of the geometric forms used by Garrard is the isosceles triangle.

The work “Convergence 2004” (quartz dust on linen) features layers of transparent isosceles triangles, 4 with the bottom of the canvas as the base and three with the top of the canvas as their base. The vertex angles are lines up on a vertical reflection line of symmetry that runs through the center of the canvas. This expresses the symmetric nature of the human form, with a vertical line of symmetry, but also the non-symmetrical nature, i.e. the absence of a horizontal line of symmetry.

The geometry for “Blue II” (Ink on canvas, 2004) is takn diretcly from the outline of the artist’s body. Garrard uses various rectangles to create a structure that relates the proportions of her body and again displays a verical line of reflective symmetry.

Garrard has also created videos and performance works that are based on her techniques of dividing up her body into a sort of grid of points. The artist then connects these points with either tape lines, directly on her body, or paint lines on a clear panel.

The sculpture “Geometric Void” (paint on perspex) is the result of an 8-hour performance from 2010. Rachel Garrard has created a new way to express geometry based  on the proportions of her body. Although the nature of this work is very personal, the essence of these symmetries and proportions reveal universal truths.