DUNDEE.- Both artists have developed their practice through travel, day to-day experiences and incidental encounters with materials and found objects. They explore ideas around cultural value and production, whilst embodying the idea of making-do-and-mending. Redmond and MacKillop use the language of Modernism to create works with a precarious and ephemeral quality, in contrast to the architecture of DCA galleries. Their work is particularly poignant during a time of economic uncertainty.
Mary Redmond uses a mixture of found objects and raw materials which are altered, shaped, bent, bashed or painted and then meticulously placed together, making it difficult for the viewer to distinguish between the found object and the hand-made. These carefully placed pieces play with sculptural language: monumentality, balance, solidity and space.
She describes her work as “something ordinary made strange”. Fleeting visual and physical experiences are referenced through the combination of divergent materials – such as industrial fencing – with delicate coloured fabric. The work produced for The Floating World is inspired by her travels in Asia, creating an enigmatic landscape of chance incidents and encounters.
Sara MacKillop takes every day objects such as books, records, jigsaws, wallpaper and stationery and transforms them by following a few simple rules. In this way they resemble the working process of artists like Sol Lewitt or Daniel Buren. The origin of each object is never wholly obscured.
“A lot of my work comes from wandering around and noticing. The objects I find are innately interesting and to a certain extent I’m just highlighting that quality, so in this way they find me. However, once you notice a quality in a particular object you inevitably look for further examples.”
The selection of often obsolete or ‘end-of the-line’ materials reference a cycle of redundancy. MacKillop produces work with a wry humour and poignancy that hints at the absurdity of bureaucratic systems.
Similar Variance/The Floating World is presented in two separate galleries, allowing the viewer to note the similarities and differences between the artists’ work.
Sara MacKillop graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2001. Her work was first seen in Toronto in Provisional Worlds at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2002. MacKillop's work has been featured in recent solo shows Cairn, Pittenweem, Fife (2009), Alp Gallery Stockholm, Whitechapel Project Space and Clages Cologne (2008), Wilkinson Gallery, London and Jessica Bradley Art and Projects, Toronto, Canada (2007). She has also exhibited in numerous group shows in England, France, Sweden, Italy, New York and Brooklyn. Recently she has been critically recognized with a new generation of British artists such as Iain Kiaer, for the subtle economy of her work.
www.saramackillop.co.uk
Mary Redmond studied in the Environmental Art Department at Glasgow School of Art and subsequently on the MA course. Participated in several group exhibitions in Scotland and abroad, including ‘Here and Now’, DCA 2001. She recently completed a major public art commission at the Centre for Health and Science, Inverness. Solo exhibitions have included Juno and the Stallion, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (2005), Galerie Christian Drantman, Brussels (2004) and Alona Kagan Gallery, New York (2003). Redmond will have a solo show at The Modern Institute (date to be confirmed). In 2009 she received the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award.
