The Visual Artists’ News sheet CRITIQUE sUPPLEMENT
May – June 2013
'Monuments' Lismore Castle Arts, waterford 20 April – 30 september 2013
'The Artist's Overcoat' FE Mcwilliam Gallery, Down 16 March – 9 June 2013
oN approaching Lismore Castle Arts, my head
The dominance of white emptiness behind a
locks into an upward tilting position. This
web of structural lines continues in vastly different
contemporary art gallery is located within Lismore
scale through Bronstein's architectural installation,
Castle in County Waterford, which dominates the
Pavilion, in the castle gardens. This imposing seven-
southern river bank on approach to Lismore and
meter-high work is visible from afar – due in most
requires this unusual positioning of the head if the
part to the scaffolding system surrounding it.
entirety of this vast edifice is to be fully taken in.
Closer inspection reveals that this scaffolding
High and ancient walls run at either side as you
encases a 2D drawing on vinyl. Apart from a
walk towards the public entrance. The sense of
minimally rendered window and door, this
crossing a threshold into another precinct persists
enormous sheet of vinyl is blank. While the heavy
as you enter a narrow stone tower, pay an entrance
and cumbersome scaffolding may ultimately
fee, climb a set of steep wooden steps and gain
facilitate the further working of this large scale
access to the upper garden of the castle, where
drawing, for the time being its presence seems to
Lismore Castle Arts is situated.
have hindered progress and is blocking our view of
My fixed assumptions about taking a leisurely
Aoibhin Killeen, Extremities, 2013
the printed vinyl.
visit to an old, stately home are confirmed. The
A spirit of provisionality, in which materials
title of the current group exhibition is 'Monuments',
linger ambiguously between a state of coming
which chimes with these expectations, and brings
undone and finding new form, continues through
to mind various displays of closed and authoritative
FE Mcwilliam, Women of Belfast series, c1972, ink on paper
From FE Mcwilliam's scrapbook
the works in the rest of 'Monuments'. Yorgos
AS the sliding doors to the glass vestibule hiss
and quick lines – is Clare Martin’s sound installation
representations of status and power. Mark Sladen
Sapountzis employs modest materials and a human
open, visitors to the FE McWilliam Gallery are
Continuous Lines and Intimate Moments, piping
– the curator of this exhibition – self-consciously
scale to suggest an improvised and wild approach
greeted by the familiar warm aroma of café food
whispered confessions of lust and lies through
embraces all that this title suggests in relation to
to the creation of temporary and collectively
and by, somewhat surprisingly, two works from the
cardboard tubes, which subsequently imbues some
this loaded site: resisting and complicating these
activated memorials. His Castle Knots and Animals
current exhibition, ‘The Artist’s Overcoat’. The first
of the work on show with more explicit meaning.
assumptions through the works in 'Monuments'.
comprises the remnants of a performance which
is made by McWilliam, the other – the cast latex
McWilliam undeniably enjoyed studying the
A thinness of surface appearances and the
took place at Lismore Castle. The materials –
pages of a historical book on a small shelf – by
female body. His sketchbooks are filled with
making visible of structural supports persist as
bamboo, pieces of fabric, tape and sheets of light
Kaylin Hackett, who is part of the group of NCAD
collages of legs: crossed, elongated, splayed and
characteristics through many of the works in this
metal which have photocopies taped to them – are
second year sculpture students asked to respond to
open, crotches and buttocks. The protesting female
show. The Vietnamese artist Danh Vo contributes
haphazardly arranged in the gallery space and
the FE McWilliam collection.
figures holding placards depicted in Banner Series
three large copper sculptures to 'Monuments',
through both their scale and arrangement, invite
The main gallery is an open, bright and
which comprise a series from his We The People
human use. Though the materials are inert, they
warmly lit space. It becomes immediately evident
(detail) project. Since 2011, Vo has been having one-
seem ripe with purpose: defunct if not held and
why this exhibition started at the front door: it
McWilliam sympathised with the victims
to-one reproductions from the Statue of Liberty
used by people.
comprises a substantial collection of work, which
caught up in the escalating violence in Northern
Studies re-appear as sketched, scantily clad nearnudes in Banner Series Series, mounted next to it.
fabricated in China. The sections in 'Monuments'
Through both Sapountzis's work, and in
includes a plethora of different sized sculptures,
Ireland in the 1970s, yet many of the women he
are taken from the drapery of the statue and appear
Alexandra Mir's two pieces of work in this show, an
wall-mounted drawings, prints, models and casts
portrayed in response are simply featureless
to be languishing in the gallery space – fractured
insistent belief is apparent in the inevitability of
in large glass vitrines, and a cordoned off, neatly
victims. Their beautifully sculpted limbs and
and useless, without their body to support them.
changing cycles in the status of our monuments
constructed tableau of tools, work boots, floor-
contorted bodies, replicated so finely in bronze, at
The thin copper sheets have been worked from one
and moreover in their contingency upon people's
based sculptures and overcoats.
times betray a pre-occupation with the aesthetic
side to create the appearance of a flowing and
relationships and sense of ownership of them.
Outside, sitting in the neatly trimmed grass
study of the female form that feels distanced and
undulating surface; we can walk behind one of
'Monuments' is a provocative and challenging
next to the replica studio, which is visible through
objectifying. In a vitrine surrounded by sculptures
these pieces and note the stiff, geometrically-
exhibition which squares up to the complexity of
the large windows, are Josh Joyce’s two wooden
of dismembered legs and limbs and fully dressed
arranged bars which are required to hold this
its site. The environs of Lismore Castle Arts are
crates. They are a reminder that this show provides
male judo players (in McWilliam’s defence, he does
'flowing' form together.
conspicuously monumental; such a space playing
an opportunity to exhibit some of the lesser-seen
occasionally represent the male form, but not
The foregrounding of such thin, structural
host to art works which call for the questioning of
items in the FE McWilliam collection that are
nearly as enthusiastically), the small semi-naked,
lines forms an integral part of Pablo Bronstein's two
the certainty and stability of fixed monuments
usually in storage.
masked bronze, Miss Orissa, crawls sexily towards
works in 'Monuments'. These lines are spare and
could be cynically regarded as further evidence of
How does one decide what to include in an
provisional in DB Nostalgia Ironwork Redesign,
art's co-option and sanitisation. But on the other
exhibition such as this? And what is to be excluded?
Aoibhin Killeen’s Extremities is a welcome
where a series of eight black and white laser prints
hand, the openness of this uniquely-positioned art
On display is just a selection of the extensive
addition in direct response to McWilliam’s
of architectural drawings depict fantastically
space to such questions could be lauded and
collection, focusing in particular on the artist’s
Umbilicus.
imagined, grandiose corporate buildings. The
regarded as a brave, self-reflexive position.
studio. McWilliam’s process of abstracting the
installation distorts the reflection of the large,
human form is communicated effectively through
crossed bronze female legs and crotch and acts as a
the introduction of collages, sketched studies,
simple
master models and maquettes that map the artist’s
engagement with the unsettling array of naked,
process and working methods.
dissected and distorted female body parts in the
portrayed buildings are wildly bombastic, yet rendered flat and monochrome through their
Sarah Lincoln is an artist based in Waterford.
humble representation on paper.
Also referenced is the transition into the wider
Her
floor-based,
intervention
mirrored
demanding
PVC
critical
collection.
world outside the studio by the inclusion of
‘The Artist’s Overcoat’ successfully showcases
finished sculptures and, in the case of the Seated
source material, research and sketchbooks that
Woman / Figure studies, even postage stamps: the
give a comprehensive overview of McWilliam’s
flattened image of the abstract female figure
prolific career. The decision to include work by
repeated perfectly across multiple surfaces, ready
NCAD sculpture students made in response to the
to be distributed across the globe.
FE McWilliam collections and studio seems
Daisy Gaffney’s steely surgeon’s table of sharp
appropriate and progressive, pushing the work on
precision tools keenly contrasts with McWilliam's
show into a contemporary framework that opens
tactile, irregular and textured plaster cast and
this archival material up for interpretation and
metal-concrete surfaces, and his muted palette of
debate. It is an act of preservation, guaranteeing
browns, beiges and warm oranges. However, these
that the collection retains its relevance amongst
seemingly perfect implements also betray the
emerging contemporary artists and continues to
presence of their maker – they are unidentifiable
resonate beyond the walls of this purpose-built
hand-made tools not quite sharp enough for an
space.
operation, speaking of craftsmanship and quietly tracing the artist’s touch. In the top right corner of the space, the exhibition takes an unexpected turn. Snaking amongst the preparatory drawings for the Women Danh Vo, We The People (detail (detail), 2011-13, courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, image by Paul McAree / Lismore Castle Arts
her identical master model counterpart.
of Belfast series – fresh, loose, covered in doodles
Alissa Kleist lives and works in Belfast. She is a visual artist, co-director of Catalyst Arts and a member of artist collective PRIME.