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William Drenttel|Essays

June 2, 2009

Once Out of Chaos


Once Out of Chaos: Pauline Galiana, a video by Richard Devereaux

Natural sounds and natural lighting inform this elegiac mediation on making — on art formulated and gridded from the detritus of painting. This meticulously-paced video by Richard Devereaux takes the time to capture the beauty of hundreds of individually-sewn stitches, softly wavering in the breezes of a warm afternoon.

Pauline Galiana painted Silent Cells in 2004, exploring the repetition of forms on a grid, then the repetition of the paintings as a series. She saved hundreds of paper rags used to wipe her oil brushes, and then in 2008-09 began a new series of collages, Winter of Will. Sewn gently onto organic fabric, she creates a new, breathing grid. Galiana’s work is a mediation on domesticity and the recycling of creative energy. And Richard Devereaux is a patient, thoughtful filmmaker.