Rebecca Murtaugh- 'To mark a significant space in the living room'

"My studio practice engages an experimental and playful process... I often work within parameters, improvisation and intuition drive my actions in the studio along with a strong desire and consideration of beauty, form and colour."

Rebecca Murtaugh prides herself on taking an 'everyday' material of interest and using it to transform the 'everyday' space. What is unique about her work is that much of it is created within her very own home meaning that the final results are only seen in true form by a select few people, and therefore is only revealed to the masses through photographic medium.

The above image titled 'To mark a significant space in the living room' shows how she not only uses the form and texture of the post-it's but also invests a lot of her interest into their colours. She is known for using ordinary dull yellow post-it's for the less important objects in the background, and brings out the 'significant' objects; those vital to the function of each room in the more vivid colours available, such as blue, pink and green.

 The installation on the right was created by the artist in 2001 who covered her bedroom in $1000 worth of the sticky notes, it took six days to complete and was dismantled within a twenty four hour period of completion, with only five people seeing the finished result in her room. Similar to her living room piece, Murtaugh draws the eye to the objects that give a room it's function; particularly in this image the bed.

While the obvious reason to be drawn to the artists work is due to the visually pleasing aesthetics, she also makes a more valid point. The objects within a room determine it's function; without a bed, it would just be a room.

She admits her fascination with the object comes from how she has managed to manipulate it's function;

"They have purpose , but it's different for everyone: sometimes it's a note, 'I'll be back,' or maybe it's a phone number. But for all these important things, the note itself is always ephemeral and temporary... There is duality; it's disposable, but it's very valuable."

What is so admirable about Murtaugh is her persistence with the material; confining and restricting herself to the same media and purpose displays a diligence in her work, and the importance of the 'everyday' material to her as an artist.