Siobhan McDonald
dal 24/5/2012 al 8/7/2012
Segnalato da
24/5/2012
Siobhan McDonald
The Galway Arts Centre, Galway
Eye of the storm. Her recent works have been triggered by the eruptive nature of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull since 2010, alluding to tensions between chaos and entropy, and between the teleological and the merely random.
Curated by Aoife Tunney
As the world turns . . . The artist observes, records, relates. Since the Cosmos and all that’s in it were born of a singularity, all things are related. The task of the artist is to trace the lines of this universal cousinage. [1]
Tim Robinson
written for Siobhan McDonald on the occasion of her solo exhibition, Eye of the Storm, 2012
Siobhan McDonald’s work explores the idea of studying ‘nature’. Her recent works have been triggered by the eruptive nature of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull since 2010, alluding to tensions between chaos and entropy, and between the teleological and the merely random. For this exhibition, Eye of the Storm, she employs geology as a language to conceive an understanding of time and our relationship to a constantly evolving environment, juxtaposing new artworks in poetic relation with historical and geological artefacts. Early 20th century Jesuit seismograms from The School of Cosmic Physics, at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) which have never been on public view before and a series of newly realized works—drawings, paintings, sculpture, video and sound works — consider and reflect on the volcano, history, technology and mans' recordings of events, as they interconnect with human experience through the physicality of the surrounding landmass.
Eye of the Storm is comprised of several elements, including a series of paintings and drawings made with the process Eninka, a technique devised by John Cage in the 1980's, where fire becomes fossilized in the painting’s surface. In this process McDonald seeks to create works that connect both the artist and the viewer with a primordial state of chaos, contained in the moment of explosion.
Aircraft pieces, collected from a crash-landed, abandoned 1950's DC3 Dakota plane, found on the site of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, are sculptural readymades which map the fallen metal bird and its continuing erosion.
The artist attempts to physically embody the energy that comes from the Earth's core, by making works either at the site of the volcano, or in the the studio. The objects in this show are works that record the artist's interpretations of nature, human presence in geological time and the durational process of decay as cycles pass.
McDonald also collaborated with artist Slavek Kwi on a sound piece, Implodex Tremoranti 20:16 based on original Eyjafjallajokull data (from the Icelandic Meteorological Office by Sveinn Olafsson) and field recordings by Siobhan McDonald taken in August 2011. Other explosive sounds are derived from the archives of Slavek Kwi.
Slavek Kwi is a sound-artist, composer and researcher interested in the phenomena of perception as the fundamental determinant of relations with reality.
Siobhan McDonald is a visual artist working with paint, sound, photography and drawing. Her recording of the earth’s rhythms and it’s ephemeral occurrences explores patterns in nature and reveals realities that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Recent pieces develop her preoccupation with transformation in manifestations of the explosive, like volcanoes, and the gradual, like the passage of icebergs. Siobhan has exhibited both nationally and internationally and her work is in many private collections around the world. www.siobhanmcdonald.com
Aoife Tunney is an independent curator working in Dublin. She received first class honours in her MA in curatorial practice at IADT. She was the curator-in-residence at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and sat on the curatorial panel for Temple Bar Gallery and completed a residency at The Model in Sligo in 2010-11. She has curated All humans do, group show at White Box, New York in January, 2012, which travelled to The Model, April 2012, Conquested group show at The Paper Store, Spencer Dock and TBG&S, Dublin 2011. This year she will curate a solo show with Siobhan Mc Donald at The Galway Arts Centre, and The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon and is developing a series of shows to be brought to New York in 2013.
Image. Siobhan McDonald journey to the epicentre of the Eyjafjallajokull volacno, Iceland. Digital photograph, August 2011
Opening 25th May, 2012 6pm-9pm
The Galway Arts Centre
47 Dominick Street - Galway