From the 'Bridge Road Projects' blog 2007:

Paper/Rock/Scissors
West Space
15-19 Anthony St Melbourne
July 19 – August 11 2007
Review by Tai Snaith

Curated as a group effort by the 10 or so committee members of West Space, this group show is a perfect example of successful democratic process and a playful interpretation of a somewhat literal curatorial premise of three inanimate objects.

Each committee member was asked to suggest a couple of artists whose work they thought would fit well with either rock paper or scissors as a starting point. The committee then employed a casual voting system to chose the final twelve artists in the show. One of the impressive and interesting aspects of the final result is that these chosen artists range not only across genres and mediums but also across generations to create a diverse yet unified result.
In the main gallery space the viewer encounters a somewhat sparse and considered group of objects responding to each theme. Louise Hubbard’s untitled chair work sits quietly by the entrance with a pair of nail scissors skewered precisely and almost humorously through the centre of the 60’s (after Kosuth?) yellow plastic seat. Along the far wall leans Peter Burke’s wire framed text pieces, reminiscent of both newspaper headlines outside the corner milk-bar and word games reiterating the 3 word schema of rock paper scissors in a literal yet somewhat witty tabloid repartee around the prompt ‘paper.’ Joining these two works in the main space are Ash Keating’s rocks, melted black plastic lumps of waste retrieved from the Holden factory floor, arranged in a ritualistic ring with an almost totemic pile in the centre, suggesting that most things, even the humble rock these days is made from petro chemicals.

Along the wall leading to the second space are five mounted paper based works; four exquisite-corpse-esque collaborative collages responding to paper by Damiano Bertoli and Tony Garifalakis and one pencil drawing by James Lynch. Here we see the re-visited themes of Superstudio’s Continuous Moment and the occult reversed and re-interreted in the Bertoli/Garafilakis works and in the middle Lynch’s drawing depicting a complex yet painstakingly concise depiction of scissors cutting up sets within sets, hinting at the tangled web of deconstructing the self and some of the tiniest grey lead writing known to man.

The Third room, dubbed the Rock room, shows the angry smashed cardboard instruments of Jarrad Kennedy chucked in the corner comically in front of Lyndal Walker’s photographic series of faux female rock stars hung like posters on a teenagers wall and opposite Jessie Anguin’s printed hardcover books of ‘I shot Ricky Swallow’ complete with a little spot to sit down and read them in peace. This room illustrates how old work can be given a new lease of life when re-arranged amongst fitting neighbours and tied together with a good strong theme.

Finally, the small room at the back of West Space houses the more sentimental and obsessive works in the show. Nicholas Jones’ ‘The Age 1903’ from 2006 is a meticulously carved copy of a 100 year old large format compendium of the Age. Sitting on a low wooden pew rather than a plinth, this work addresses our human attachment to paper in the book form and questions whether scissors improve or destroy it as an object. Opposite, Elizabeth Gower’s three pre-existing works using junk mail catalogue images of scissors cut and arranged carefully on drafting film sit silently and wisely as a well- rehearsed homage to the obsessive marriage of scissors and paper and the puzzling commitment to repetition and arrangement in her practise. Masters student Andew Huxton’s paper ship sailing on a paper sea is the final flat hand in the game of rock paper scissors at West Space, the silent winner of a democratic process of decision making, a simple game where no-one can argue with the result.