Caro Pattle

misc objet

Born 1985, Aotearoa (New Zealand). naarm based since 2014.
Caro Pattle’s experimental object-based practice explores handcraft processes through a lens of contemporary materiality. She draws from a range of craft disciplines to create works that joyfully muddle organic/inorganic binaries. Pattle’s practice spans large-scale public art installation through to small sculpture and is underpinned by ongoing research into material agency, object power and future worlds. Embedded across all of her output is a sense of pleasure and play.

Pattle graduated from a Bachelor of Textiles at RMIT in 2019 with a previous Bachelor of Fine Arts completed in 2009. The recipient of several travel grants and industry prizes, she was named the Australian Textile Graduate of the Year by the Design Institute of Australia for 2020. Pattle’s work was presented by Craft at the 2022 & 2023 NGV Melbourne Design Fairs and selected for the group exhibitions: Foreign Dialogues, Gone to the Beach, Hosterium, The Gentle Going Hour, The Vessel Project, Improper Structures, By/Product, Welcome, Cheers, A Gentle Unwinding, and It’s Not Just Blue. In 2023, Pattle presented a commissioned work in Melbourne Now, Vessels at NGV Australia: Ian Potter Centre.

Rhizomatic Root System, 2023
Material: Synthetic Fleece
Price: $2,100 - Enquiries via hello@miscobjet.com

Statement
The agency of a plinth is contested territory: does the base create the sculpture, or the sculpture the base? On one hand the plinth is a physical and conceptual null space; a void signifier only given meaning by the signified art. On the other, the plinth anchors a sculpture, grounding it and serving as a bridge between the material world and a more esoteric realm. The plain white plinth exerts its agency by influencing human behaviour, manipulating audiences to regard rather than touch. Rhizomatic Root System deploys its agency in the reverse, inviting physical contact. While the conventional plinth is static, this plinth is a structure that reaches and evolves, refusing to be merely supportive material.