ABOUT
Liminal Gallery is delighted to present ‘Bred in the bone, out in the flesh’ an online solo exhibition by Eleanor McCaughey. Working across mediums, the exhibition will feature an installation, painting, drawing, video, sound and sculpture. Weaving these formats together, McCaughey creates a new visual language which deals with themes of belonging, displacement, loss of faith, theological and cosmic notions.
The exhibition forms part of an ongoing series entitled '3 Works for 3 Weeks'; an innovative take on the traditional solo exhibition, whereby each artist presents three artworks for just three weeks on the Liminal Gallery website. One new work will be released each Tuesday throughout the duration of the exhibition, accompanied by text, detail images and source material, to encourage a slower and more comprehensive engagement with the artworks and the artist themselves. The exhibition invites collectors to get intimate and build a personal connection with the artwork before purchase.
Scroll down to view the artworks and their accompanying texts.
For all purchase enquires please get in touch.
'BRED IN THE BONE' FULL VIDEO
"'Bred in the bone' contemplates spiritual practices and the use of objects in ritualistic ceremony, looking at how objects gain their sacral validation through embodied actions , attributing notions of a spiritual dimension. Irish based sound artists Bosca Nua give an improvised performance , lacing sounds from modular synths, field recordings and textures created by haptic connections with the sculptures in the space."
ELEANOR MCCAUGHEY
‘Bred in the bone’ is a jarring and otherworldly video and sound piece, as well as forming the third and final artwork of Eleanor McCaughey’s solo exhibition. It was filmed in an installation created in the artists studio and features painted fabric hanging loosely from the backdrop and covering the floor, murals with rich texture, lines fade in and out from the pastel colouring. The softness of the fabric and of the colour palette make the scene feel serene. The greens hint at nature as does the patterning, hinting crop patterns, as if in a plane looking down across the countryside in the throes of spring.
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A sculpture sits centrally, it almost looks like a cloaked person swathed in McCaughey’s patterning of pink and red stripes, hidden from view except their silhouette. The film cuts to further sculptures, each one given prominence in the film as if objects to worship.
The sound equipment is in direct contrast to the softness of the installation, the silver metal equipment seems harsh in comparison. The multitude of wires hanging out of the machines, the shining silver surfaces, the blue and red bright lights, reminiscent of medical equipment in major surgery rooms.
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Sound artists Bosca Nua are immersed within the installation, wearing costumes created by McCaughey, almost ceremonial in their camouflage uniform. They proceed to respond to the environment, using tools to drag across the sculpture to create unique soundscapes. The fully improvised performance is eerily static, whirring and whizzing, high pitched and fuzzy, ethereal yet familiar.
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McCaughey incorporates her own animation into the video, the loose patterns we have seen in her previous works now dance across the screen, giving the sculptures a vibrating sense of life, moving across to the performers themselves as the lines suddenly obscure their forms.
Beautifully vibrant colours and glitters dominate this piece, and the sound by Bosca Nua gives a sense of unease, of clinical otherworldliness leaving a tense sense of self in the viewer. There is an overarching feeling of spiritualism in the collaborative piece; that the sculptures must be worshipped, that the installation in which they sit is a place of worship and the sound Bosca Nua performs is the prayer.
DETAIL IMAGES OF 'ASSUME A VISIBLE AND OFTEN PALPABLE BODY'
This feisty mixed media work on paper ‘Assume a visible and often palpable body’ is the second artwork of the exhibition. With bursts of yellows, oranges, reds and pink, this fiery work is small in nature but packs a bunch of sensual colouring and texture.
The background is soft and tonal, with a subtle blend which carries a light yellow into an earthy brown hue. The central space is occupied by a rush of hot pink with hand applied patterning with energetic loops and dashes, giving a sense of immediacy and intuitive mark making. Towards the bottom, a tongue-like formation flicks out from the hot pink, smothered in glitter dust giving an intense sparkle to the rich colouring.
The central shape appears to be a figure seated on an embellished throne. The curvaceous waist hints at a female and she sits cradling a pink formation on each hip. On one side the soft rounded form hints at a child, but likewise could be a breast, with nipples protruding at the top. On the other side, something peeps around the side of the hip with a long protruding form. Given the artists suffering with endometriosis, it appears to be a fallopian tube, lonely without an ovary to facilitate it’s function.
In her hand, the female holds a stick, a sign of recovery, of ailment, possibly a staff hinting at religious aspects. At her foot, a mound is covered with an ornate black cloth, resembling a vestment, the cloth worn by priests in the Catholic faith. The chair the figure sits on also reminds of religious iconography, with its sprawling ornate throne-like surround.
At the feet of the figure a dark black and red mass sits quietly, jarringly, as if an unwanted guest. The blob silently creeps up the robes of the figure, uninvited and unwelcome. Endometriosis combines to create masses, which push organs apart or sticks them together, creating huge problems and pain. The black mass suggests this, providing an unwanted focal point of an otherwise joyful image. Alongside is a biohazard sign, further hinting at this and the huge medical journeys those which are diagnosed have to endure.
Referencing the title of the work, a palpable body is a tangible one, so just showing up is all that is needed and with such an illness, it can be difficult to promise more than that. Palpable also brings connotations of softness, pliable, malleable. Soft but ready to be weakened in order to become stronger. The fire that surrounds the figure shows her strength and that she is more than just turning up. She is fierce and the guardian of her own body.
DETAIL IMAGES OF 'THE EYES OF THE ENRAPTURED TILTED TOWARD A CONSTELLATION'
The first artwork of the exhibition ‘The eyes of the enraptured tilted toward a constellation’ features an incredible amount of texture; crayon is applied in energetic formations, providing outlines as well as dashing and looping patterns.
Gouache and oil paints are applied liberally and loosely, swaths of thin and thick applications sit alongside each other in harmony, lending themselves to the flowing brush strokes. Colours range from the soft pastel background to earthy brown, to the deep black of the base and the contemporary pinks, turquoise and bursts of glitter dust.
A closer study brings figures to the forefront, each stooping over a central point. It brings to mind a classical nativity scene, particularly when referencing the title of the work. A female figure appears on the left holding the golden glowing orb that resembles an infant in the centre, surrounded by ‘enraptured’ folk, maybe the wise men with an equally as doting sheep figure sitting at their feet.
The female figure’s arm seems to be a live mass of flesh, twisting in unsuspecting ways and the forearm a globulus lump of peachy flesh colouring with a darker section inside and red blood-like outsides. The artist suffers from endometriosis, a condition where tissue similar to that which lines the inside of the womb grows outside of the uterus. It creates masses which stick organs together or pushes them apart, it causes intense pain and sometimes infertility. Armed with this knowledge, the mass of flesh suddenly becomes a cross section of the uterus and below, the bladder. A common place where endometriosis can strike and here the female wears it on her sleeve, quite literally.
The golden child is worshipped as the miracle he is, while the Mother is left with her insides exposed, vulnerable to God’s will.
PRESS RELEASE
Liminal Gallery is delighted to present ‘Bred in the bone, out in the flesh’ an online solo exhibition by Eleanor McCaughey. Working across mediums, the exhibition will feature an installation, painting, drawing, video, sound and sculpture. Weaving these formats together, McCaughey creates a new visual language which deals with themes of belonging, displacement, loss of faith, theological and cosmic notions.
Examining the bodily existence and it’s fragility, the newly created works are autobiographical in nature, after McCaughey’s own diagnosis and subsequent operations for endometriosis. She says “During a difficult recovery, I was offered votive material by devotional catholic family members to aid with the healing process. Their unwavering faith offers the thought that one might be able to transcend the limitations of physical but I felt and I feel human, grounded in flesh and blood.” Through the use of hand crafted rudimentary materials such as moulded toilet rolls, tinfoil, dripped paint and plaster pulled down by gravity, McCaughey captures this sensation with an earth-bound quality.
‘Bred in the bone, out in the flesh’ forms part of an ongoing series entitled 3 Works For 3 Weeks, an innovative take on the traditional solo exhibition promoting slow looking and true engagement with the artist, the artworks and the concepts behind them. Each exhibition in the series features 3 artworks alongside text, detail images and source material to give an intimate insight. The exhibitions run for just 3 weeks and all invited artists are either national or international, but all are currently working within the UK and Republic of Ireland, to show the breadth and diversity of art available across the countries.
Each Tuesday at 10am throughout the duration of the exhibition, Liminal Gallery will release a new artwork accompanied by text and detail images onto the dedicated Viewing Room found on www.liminal-gallery.com.