Sensible Obsessions may sound like an oxymoron, but the art makes perfect sense.

Sensible Obsessions, Truck Gallery’s current exhibit, sounds like an oxymoron, but artists Cynthia Dinan-Mitchell and Emily Rosamond have combined two seemingly opposite installations to portray a theme that, with a little brainpower, makes perfect sense.

Far East meets old West in Dinan-Mitchell’s printmaking work. The theme, which incorporates a sharp black-and-red colour scheme, is a pairing of her inspiration from the Victorian “Toile du Jouy” motif and Japanese western films.

“It’s a mishmash of Victorian imagery, cowboys, samurais and geishas,” Dinan-Mitchell says, “so it’s really an eclectic feel, but all mixed into a recognizable pattern.”

Dinan-Mitchell, who has her master’s degree in visual arts, finds a great deal of inspiration in interior decorating, which ties in “Toile du Jouy,” a popular pattern in high-end homes during the 1800s.

“I read a lot about how to create comfort, and one rule that always came to mind when thinking about remaking an installation is that when a motif is created from place to place, it will create something more harmonious,” she says. “This motif has a huge connotation, but it’s always a bit ambiguous... there’s always the weird feeling behind it because it’s people working in the countryside. The rich would use images of working-class people within their homes, but idealized.”

Her influence from interior decorating is further emphasized through the work’s presentation and the creation of ambience within the gallery space. The red walls, which are a stark contrast from Rosamond’s minimalist approach, are also a departure from the traditional presentation of artwork.

“I think my work is very humorous. It sort of questions where art is within a gallery space. We’re used to seeing artwork in a very pristine environment, where walls are white,” she says. “I try to counteract that where I make everything colour co-ordinated to imitate where artwork usually does live, which is in the home.”

At first glance, the artists’s work looks nothing alike, but the underlying connotations relate with more observation.

“I think in both our works, there’s a very feminine undertone,” says Dinan-Mitchell.

Rosamond, whose sculptural installation explores ideas of consumerism subjectivity and the notion that consumers act as containers, adds that while their work is esthetically different, there are observations regarding consumerism that tie them together.

“Her piece in this show is very much about a theatrical night of consumption,” Rosamond says. “It’s very much about kind of setting the scene for consumption. Mine is thinking about consumption but in a very different way, more in kind of a formal sculptural exploration.”

She adds that on the surface, they do come together through their use of containers. Dinan-Mitchell’s are in the form of silk-screened ceramics, while Rosamond uses commodities that are made to look like empty vases.

“I think it was a really smart pairing on the part of the gallery,” Rosamond says. “You have to think for a bit to make the connection, but it’s definitely there.”

While working on her master’s degree, she began creating sculptures out of common, dollar store materials. Licorice, soda crackers and plastic bags took centre stage to construct tetrahedron sculptures. These were coupled with Jell-O and shampoo-painted floors to explore consumption and what it means to be a consumer. She is now working on her PhD in interdisciplinary studies.

This influence is still the prevalent theme of Rosamond’s work, but she says the focus has shifted slightly.

“The main sort of consumer items I have in this show are rubber boots and sweaters. I’m very interested in using those things as containers and arranging them and sculpting them in a way that makes people really think about how they are containers and what they are containing,” she says. “So I think it’s about what makes the surface, what makes the container, and what does it mean to think of ourselves as these empty vessels that take something in. Again, that’s kind of my take on consumerism at the moment.”