Athrach na nGardaí - Changing of the Guards
Athrach na nGardaí
Kevin McGee
“Trí” is teideal don tríú seó aonair atá Kevin Mcgee a chur inár láthair. Is iomaí brí a thig a bhaint as an fhocal bheag sin díreach mar a thig leis an té atá ag amharc ar na pictiúir agus an saothar dealbhóireachta atá sa taispeántas a chiall féin a bhaint astu. Ciallaíonn “Trí”: an uimhir 3, ag dul tríd, isteach ann nó ag meascadh le rud éigin; ar fud; de thairbhe; mar gheall ar, ó thús go deireadh agus go leor eile.
Is furast a shainmhíniú oscailte débhríoch a chur i gcosúlacht le cuid ealaín Mcgee, ealaín a dhiúltaíonn a bheith faoi chuing bhrí amháin nó míniú cúngaigeanta. I ndáiríre, tógánn a chleachtas ealaíne droichid idir dealbhóireacht agus péinteáil, ag tabhairt léargas, b’fhéidir, ar thóir sheasmhach leanúnach an ealaíontóra ar mhaithe le dul i bhfeidhm ar an lucht féachana trí níos mó ná ábhar datha a chur ar chanbhás go díreach. Ó chríochnaigh sé a chuid staidéir i gcoláiste ealaíon tá deich mbliana ó shin, tá Mcgee ag cur – go teasaí, go minic – gnéithe fheidhmeacha ar dhromchlaí a chuid saothar, iad measctha go corraitheach cleasach ar dhóigh, i dtús báire, a thug chun cuimhne na pictiúir Combine a rinne Robert Rauschenberg sna 1950idí.
Ach léiríonn na saothair is moille seo, áfach, go dtáinig borradh mór ar fhoirfeacht Mcgee. Fíneáilte agus borb ag an am chéanna, éiríonn leo anord na chéad canbháis agus na saothair dealbhóireachta a chloí ach tá fuinneamh dearfach iontu, a bhaintear amach leis an chothromaíocht dianrialaithe atá le sonrú i measc na míreanna suaite d’oladhath, na foirmeacha péinteáilte simplí (níos mó antrapamorpach ná geoiméadrach), agus na heilimintí dealbhóireachta ina bhfuil réimse éagsúil, ó phíosaí éadaí shiopa carthanachta (muinchille, píosaí d’uaim, snáithí roiste, sciorradán) go píosaí plaisteacha greamaithe. Lena chois sin, tá grástúlacht fhoirmeálta bhunúsach san ealaín seo a thugann chun cuimhne ealaíontóirí mar Richard Tuttle nó Sean Scully, ach san am chéanna tá stíl ar leith dó féin ina shaothar i dtaca lena dhearcmhíniú gearchúiseach tarraingteach.
Go bunúsach, éiríonn go buacach le saothar úr Mcgee de bharr go gcuireann sé fuinneamh beo beathach in iúl; tá duine, neach nó rud ag broideadh sna coimeádáin seo atá lán de thocht imreasach ach machnamhach ag an am chéanna.
Catherine D. Anspon, Houston, Texas
“… tá níos mó ná bealach amháin ann le hamharc ar rud ar bith. Is cluiche beirte, nó cluiche codanna, é i dtólamh agus tá scáil na beatha san ealaín nó scáil na healaíne sa bheatha …”
- Kevin Mcgee
Changing of the Guards
Kevin McGee
“Trí”, the title of Kevin Mcgee’s third solo show, like the paintings and sculpted works in the exhibition, means many things, depending on the viewer’s reference. Taken from the Gaelic language, these are: the number 3, through opening, mixing with, penetrating, on account of, throughout, through medium of, from point to point within, by means of.
Its ambiguous, open-ended definition parallels Mcgee’s art making, which refuses to be restricted to a single reading or narrow interpretation. Indeed, his art practice bridges sculpture and painting, mirroring perhaps the artist’s insistent search to impact an audience with more than pure pigment on a canvas. Since he completed art college a decade ago, Mcgee has been – often frenetically – adding applied elements to his creations’ surfaces, in an uneasy, intriguing jumble that initially suggested the early Combine paintings of Robert Rauschenberg from the 1950s.
These recent works however, signify a leap in Mcgee’s maturity. Both subtle and raw, they manage to defeat the chaos of the earlier canvases and sculptures, yet maintain a promising energy, which is achieved by a tightly controlled balance amidst seething passages of oil paint, simple painted forms (more anthropomorphic than geometric), and sculptural elements that range from pieces of thrift shop clothing (a sleeve, bits of a seam, random threads that have unraveled, a zipper) to affixed pieces of plastic. This art also possesses an underlying formal elegance that is reminiscent of artists such as Richard Tuttle or Sean Scully, while being wholly original in its compelling, finely honed visual vocabulary. Ultimately, Mcgee’s new work triumphs in implying the presence of a living force; a person, being or thing throbs in these containers fraught with a frictional – yet contemplative – tension.
Catherine D. Anspon, Houston, Texas
“… there is more than one way of looking at any given thing. It is always a game of two, or more halves, and art reflects life or life reflects …”
- Kevin Mcgee