Lisa Milroy

This exhibition of new work by Anglo-Canadian artist Lisa Milroy was based on the theme of a garden. It conjured up views of a dreamlike world whilst encouraging our apprehension of the artistic means involved.

The first gallery introduced us to a contrived landscape through map and chalk pastels depicting rolling lawns, an ornamental lake, island and bridge, and trees full of pink blossom. In the middle gallery were five huge paintings of the garden seen from different viewpoints. Each painting filled with a poetic combination of objects alluding to the five senses. That representing ‘touch’, for example, featured a raft of furry zoo animals anchored into the middle of the lake. In Sight, optical paraphernalia such as spectacles, a microscope and binoculars float on canvas pontoons. In the last gallery, Milroy played with an illusory transition, as visitors moved from the fiction of the paintings to an actual lounge room. They were invited to sit on sofas and peruse books on gardens around the world, inspect a wall of the artist’s working drawings or simply daydream..

Making Sense was genrously supported by Canada House Arts Trust with the assistance of the Canadian High Commission in London, Waterstones, Pago Fruit Juices, Ethos Urban, Habitat and City Living.

Lisa Milroy
Making Sense