Bilirubin Bezoar
Isadora Vaughan

The title of Isadora Vaughan’s solo presentation at Gertrude Glasshouse co-joins the names bilirubin – a chemical compound formed by the breakdown of dead blood cells in the body, inherent in the yellow colourisation of bruises ­– and bezoar – a small stony concretion formed in the stomachs of certain animals, and historically used as an antidote to particular poisons. Bilirubin Bezoar extended Vaughan’s interest in expanded material experimentation and elaborating a visceral interpretation of anatomical surface, composition and transformation. In this installation, the artist blanketed the surface of the floor to create an environment that forms a skin, upon which audiences must navigate a pathway through. Appearing as an environment akin to a forest floor, yet one that also connotes an infestation or infection of a bodily surface, the installation took form like an alchemist’s manufacture of a new form of anatomy. Departing purposefully from the physical representation of the human form, Vaughan instead presented a setting of unnerving viscosity, metamorphosis and decay that suggests a conduit between and a collapsing of the body and the environment. 

Isadora Vaughan completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) from The Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne, in 2013. Selected recent solo exhibitions include Metabolic Rift, Station, Melbourne (2018); Recalcitrant Bodies, The Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne (2017); Tess (with Clementine Edwards), 55 Sydenham Road, Sydney (2017); Cunjevoi, Station, Melbourne (2016); Slatey Clevage, Chapter House Lane, Melbourne (2015); Soil Slag, TCB art inc., Melbourne (2015); and Slippery Mattering West Space, Melbourne (2014). Selected recent group exhibitions include From Will to Form: TarraWarra Biennial, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville (2018); Material Politics, c3 contemporary art space, Melbourne (2017); Erotisch, Private residence, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2017); Erotic City, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, USA (2016); First thought, Best thought, Space Space, Tokyo, Japan (2015); and Soft Eyes: Part One, TCB art inc., Melbourne. 

Additional funding for this project was enabled through 'The Big Idea', an annual initiative supporting the production of new work at Gertrude Glasshouse and the City of Yarra Small Project Grant.

The presentation of Bilirubin Bezoar at Gertrude Glasshouse coincided with a major new solo project by the artist, Gaia Not The Goddess, at Heide Museum of Modern Art.
 
Isadora Vaughan is represented by STATION, Melbourne.