Morfill, S. & Mclean, M, 2001.
I’m Wary
| Output Type: | Exhibition |
| Brief Description/Editor(s): | I’m Wary was made after an invitation to the artists from Five Years, an artist run gallery based in London N1. The artists had not previously worked together, and the piece is a manifestation of their combined interests in viewpoints. |
| Venue: | Five Years, 40, Underwood St, London |
| Dates: | 15/09/01 – 21/10/01 |
| URL: | www.fiveyears.org.uk |
| Number of Works: | 1 |
Both artists had been involved in a site-specific show Estate at Howden House, Livingston, Scotland in 1999. Mary Maclean showed siver gelatin photographic prints on aluminium; these were life size images of sections of the house’s interior. The camera’s viewpoint was always square on to the subject.
Sally Morfill’s work demonstrated an interest in anamorphism; and through drawing and video attempted to capture a moment where 2 and 3 dimensions co-existed within the same image.
The collaboration resulted in an installation that consisted of a large scale digital print adhered to a corner wall structure, and a looped animated movie. The print showed a section of an Aelbert Cuyp painting, A Road near a River photographed at the Dulwich Picture gallery in a method characteristic of Maclean’s work. The image was distorted so that once it had been adhered to the wall structure the viewer’s movement through the space revealed 2 significant viewpoints: one point at which the Cuyp image could be seen without distortion within a mishapen,frame, and another at which the painting became distorted within a perfect rectangle. Animated still photographs on a wall mounted monitor showed a back and forth oscillation between these 2 points.
This work developed a range of new working methods. The artists have not collaborated since I’m Wary, however ideas of perceptual illusionism consolidated in this project remain key for both.
The work is represented in the archive section of the Five Years website (see web archive).
An essay by Dr Jane Rendell, Reader in Art and Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture is included in the 2005 publication Revealed that was produced to coincide with Nottingham Castle Museum’s exhibition of their new contemporary textiles collection. The essay refers to the piece I’m Wary in some detail. Revealed is a 64pp publication in full colour with a foreword by Kate Stoddart and an Introduction by Jennifer Harris (currently acting director of the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester). ISBN 0 905634 72 1