Nature as a Pattern, Comparing Rosalie Gascoigne and Lin Onus

Rosalie Gascoigne was born in New Zealand made her career in Australia. Her style of art was the study of ikebana which is based on floral arrangements in Japan. Most of Gascoigne’s work is based on materials that signify something or other in today’s world. These things are usually items which have been around for a while such as packaging cases and rural Australian life. One of Gascoigne’s works is ‘Step Through’, a piece consisting of chocks of wood which were used in the 1950 – 60’s. Lin Onus, the second artist who will be discussed has a Scottish mother and an Aboriginal father. The piece of work created by Onus that will be discussed is ‘Fire 2’, relating to the indigenous Australian people and the importance of various items that they utilized.

‘Step Through’ is a plain piece of artwork which consists of several blocks of wood with what seems to be old fashioned flooring on top of them. The significance of these blocks of wood is that they came from old houses from early Australia. ‘Lino’, the material depicted on top of the blocks of wood was a common material used in the 1950-60’s for flooring. Gascoigne seems to be attracting the older generation of people with this piece of work. It holds quite a strong cultural significance in the sense that people living in Australia in that time would’ve used these two materials sometime in their lives. Nature is the element which is repeated in this piece. She is showing simply but effectively how much culture rests on nature. By looking at the artwork, the first thing the viewer thinks is, “why is it called Step through?” Some might say due to it looking like stepping stones and quite simply, something to walk over. In reality, there is much more behind the artwork. The blocks are old and weak, thus symbolizing that they are no longer meant for use. The pieces of floor on top of the wood might suggest that everything could once join together, but over time, broke apart. Some might say the pieces fit together....