ANNA MCMAHON DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY AWARD In collaboration with ‘University Sydney - Sydney College of the Arts’ 04.02 – 27.02.15
Biography: Â Anna McMahon is an artist and curator. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at Sydney College of the Arts (USYD) in 2010, a Master of Art Curatorship at The University of Sydney in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (USYD) in 2015. She is a 2015/2016 Co-Director at Firstdraft Gallery Sydney, and a resident artist at Parramatta Artist Studios in 2016. McMahon also collaborates with fellow artist Kate Beckingham as OK YEAH COOL GREAT. Â She has shown nationally and internationally in solo, group and curatorial projects in various galleries including Open Source Gallery (NY), Raygun (QLD), Gaffa (NSW), Wellington St Projects (NSW), MOP Projects (NSW - upcoming), Metro Arts (QLD) and Verge Gallery (NSW). Recalling moments of personal failure McMahon embraces the role of artist as amateur, proposing that there are various strengths in amateurism. This amateurism affords a freedom of expression; the provision of an unrestrained research voice; the reinterpretation of tradition without the constraint of traditional rules; the possibility of not knowing and having nothing to loose.
Artist statement: ‘There’s no easy way to say this’ recalls the moment before bad news is communicated - the space that exists between then and now. There is a numbness, an aggression, a recoiling that occurs at these moments, they are the transitory punctures and painful highlights that are common to us all. Items and affects gathered from personal memories adorn the gallery walls in this exhibition. A neon light in the shape of a insomnia riddled sleep pattern, a lotus flower collapsed over a harness, a ginger ruthlessly nailed to a wall - McMahon uses the imminent death and failure of the cut flower in the gallery context to express this space in between not knowing and knowing.
Untitled #1 from the series There’s no easy way to say this, 2016, carpet, ginger, dimensions variable Untitled #2 from the series There’s no easy way to say this, 2016, carpet, ginger, cock ring, velcro strap Untitled #3 from the series There’s no easy way to say this, 2016, neon, phalaenopsis orchid, edition of 3 Untitled #4 from the series There’s no easy way to say this, 2016, neon, sunflower, edition of 3 Untitled #5 from the series There’s no easy way to say this, 2016, lotus, strap on harness, carpet
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