Craft / Skin Deep: Gabriella Bisetto. At Canberra Glassworks, until January 25. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

Gabriella Bisetto is a highly respected Australian artist working in glass, who attended the (then) Canberra School of Art from 1986 to 1990 – then in its heyday. 

She has spent much of her professional career in Adelaide, first at the JamFactory (sic) followed by teaching at the University of South Australia, where she currently is senior lecturer in the contemporary art program.

This is a deeply contemplative exhibition.

Bisetto’s work draws inspiration from the shapes and structures found within the human body – especially the skin. As we age, our bodies change – our skin changes, we accumulate blemishes, our bodies grow, and then shrink. Our bodies become an archive of our lives.

Our breath – inhaling and exhaling – is present throughout the whole process and is perhaps the most important element. Breath is also vital in glassblowing. Not big, deep breaths, but tiny puffs, each building on the previous puffs held in the molten glass.

Bisetto is showing nine framed works, in silvered glass. The glass is smooth, silvery and very shiny. Under my skin #1 shows small nipple-like protrusions rising from the surface. Under my skin #2 features rounded bumps. This glass surface of This skin in am in #1 is loose and droops in the frame. It has lost its elasticity.

Other works are merciless. In Broken skin (scars) #3 and #2 the flawless surface is scarred by a gash, that goes right back to the backing of the work. They are brutal and confronting.

In two other works, the surface of the skin appears blemished. The bright, shiny surface of This skin I’m in #1 (ephelis) is marred by spots – freckles are considered by some to be unsightly and to detract from perfection. Similar “blemishes” in Under my skin (blooms) might be a rash, or a splash from a liquid that detracts from the perfection of young skin.

The installation in the Smokestack Gallery is titled Evaporates Until it Disappears. It is in silvered cast glass and discs of glass are gathered together, as though a liquid has splashed on the floor. The liquid is vaporising, searing the surface so that it disappears, but leaves behind evidence it was there.