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Joanna Kidney
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Joanna Kidney
Galway Arts Centre
9 December 2016 - 14 January 2017
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
Page 2
Joanna Kidney’s solo exhibition, We are
hurtling into the future, comprises of a series
of encaustic paintings; Metamurmuration,
a monumental site-specific installation and
Skimming Stones, a collaborative video work
with Dance Artist Liadain Herriott.
The title, We are Hurtling into the Future,
suggests an uncontrollable fast movement
towards the unknown. This lack or loss of
control contrasts with the process of the
artworks in it. The paintings are made with
encaustic paint (pigmented beeswax) which
requires method and order in its preparation
and layering onto board. However, the speed
at which the artist needs to work and the
ability to scrape away as well as to add,
provides a pressure-release valve to the order.
Order and chaos, or the potential for chance,
create a tension in Joanna’s work that is
played out over three distinct mediums and
two galleries in Galway Arts Centre. The series
of paintings that occupy Gallery 1 have auras of
authority and presence. The back room houses
paintings upon a grey wall, which add further
gravity to the hang and create a warm ground
upon which the encaustic pigments glow.
On close inspection, each painting is another
world where marks upon marks build and
surge to create an image that almost vibrates
on the wall. Joanna embraces the sometimes
limiting factors inherent in painting- the
rectangle of the canvas or board, the medium
of paint and its own limits- and subverts
them so that these same limits are what
is underpinning the energy and dynamism
between adding and scraping away of paint.
The starting point for Joanna is often the paint
itself. Although informed by research into
particle physics and the dynamics between
time and movement, each painting is a
conversation between artist and medium.
The process, rather than the concept, is
the starting point. Repetitive actions of line
are something that is seen throughout the
exhibition. The often unconscious repetition of
line is, for the painter, as much about muscle
memory as it is for the dancer. The colour and
complexities of painting hint at the evolving
structures that the viewer subsequently
encounters with Metamurmuration. As
the dancer in Skimming Stones transitions
through repetition, so does the artist with the
paint. These are more than visual echoes in
this body of work. The distillation of complex
systems – in Joanna’s context, the gap
between space and time – is in this exhibition
fragmented down to the point where each
element, or particle, can be studied. When
systems are then brought back together, one
can see both the individual particle and the
overall system simultaneously. This can be
seen in Metamurmuration quite distinctly
but also in the video and paintings. Scientific
exploration through the visual is an essential
method of research, and is something that can
be illustrated by looking at the invention of the
chronophotograph.
´
Etienne-Jules
Marey (1830 – 1904,
France) was a scientist, physiologist and
chronophotographer. He observed and
analysed the rules that governed bodies
in motion through the complex actions
such as the flapping of a birds wings by
breaking down these actions into precise,
frame-by-frame data through the process
of chronophotography, or ‘photographs of
time’. His ‘chronophotographic gun’ could
shoot 12 consecutive images a second in one
frame. As well as animals, he also studied
more abstract forms such as smoke trails.
Marey’s connection of science and nature,
and the micro to the macro inform how
we understand things today: particles are
building blocks to something bigger. This
something bigger can be understood by the
F
FoReWOrD
FoReWOrD
FoReWOrD
fragmentation and simultaneous observation
of all particles at once, much like Marey used
photography to understand the process of
movement. Joanna’s Metamurmuration is
this same fragmentation at play: a static
image of something that is usually defined by
its movement; a representation of something
that is usually invisible. The deconstruction
seen in Metamurmuration is not just to
divide and isolate; it allows for the discovery
of pattern. Pattern is not solely repetition,
but allows for change and development;
something that is integral to nature in order
for survival. Beginning at the front door and
overshadowed by the distractions of the
building’s entranceway, the murmuration of
particles changes and develops as it moves
upstairs and in through the gallery space.
Throughout the changes of relative density
and composition, the pattern of the particles
is still visible and its presence instructs the
particles not only in how to be but what they
could become.
Skimming Stones is the artist’s first foray into
video. The process of working collaboratively
with an artist from a different artform
allowed the artist to further extend the
lines and boundaries of drawing and into
a time based medium. Just as the stillness
of Metamurmuration allows the audience
to contemplate movement, the movement
and sound of Skimming Stones allows for
contemplation of emptiness and silence.
Negative space between sculptural form and
dancer becomes space for the audience.
This world does not spin as fast as ours does;
it moves at the same speed we do and when
we are still, so is it. The addition of the figure
into Joanna’s usually abstract work also gives
the audience permission to see themselves
within this slowing down of time, just as
their movement through Metamurmuration
does. The installation awakens the audience’s
kinaesthesia, encouraging the exploration of
time and space. Skimming Stones hints at
an ‘other’ space, where the decomposition
of drawing through movement encapsulates
the essence of drawing and mark-making
rather than seeking to impersonate it.
Transition occurs through repetition of
gesture. Pattern is created in such a way
that it is ever expanding. The hidden order of
things: of complex physics of time and space,
is revealed, layer by layer through similar
compositional methods used in dance:
repetition, accumulation and inversion.
This ambitious exhibition marks a point in
Joanna’s practice where anything is possible.
She has successfully worked in different
mediums to explore a complex idea, reaching
a point where there is potential for further
development rather than a finishing point. Her
work across three mediums do not imitate
each other, they bring the work to a new
place. The intertwining of scientific and the
visual, plus the artist’s trust in process mean
that anything is possible.
Maeve Mulrennan
Head of Visual Arts, Galway Arts Centre.
PAINTINGS
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WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
< Hoverfloatswim
2016, encaustic on panel, 125cm x 240cm
Oscillate >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 15cm x 20.5cm
We move in infinite space >
2016, encaustic on board, 20cm x 22.5cm
Page 8
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
The skipped beat 1 >
2016, encaustic on panel, 15.5cm x 15.5cm
Installation image, from left to right:
Hourglass >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 61cm x 61cm
Nothing ever holds still >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 61cm x 61cm
Through the measure of time >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 61cm x 61cm
Page 10
Look
Look
To TT
aND
aN
You sculpt and I’ll butter
Now. Then. Back and forth.
Layer on layer.
Have we lived this before?
Will we again?
And can I build the world in unplanned
repetitions?
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
What time is it?
It’s six fifty one,
Nine minutes to seven,
GMT 18:51 and twelve point three seconds
if we ignore daylight savings.
You squat and I’ll dance
Our waxy hands that do work,
hang particles, build up, break down.
Playing here is important, blurring
away the atomic
structure –melted into soup by heat.
What time is it?
Time to creep in and slap
your doubts with the unsinging
lumps of productivity.
You salute and I’ll reach,
bits and pieces of a life that clump
together to answer what is there and
what is it like?
If you look closely you’ll see exactly
what it’s not and everything it’s made of.
What time is it?
The time it was yesterday, and an hour
ago, and a picosecond after the universes
went from zero to one,
fundamentally unchanged.
You melt and I’ll lift you,
and carve you up on the support
to mark our rigour-free capsule
of this moment, unreachable
by wrist watches.
Far enough into the future the past
lies, and so does this moment, and this
painting, and there is more happening
than we-
To
THeTHe
B LOOk
rds
Birds TO THe BIrds
DNDWonder
WonderaND Wonder
What time is it?
Time to do the dance again.
On the scale of forever,
A dance and a painting live the same,
as do we, little creatures,
who may last 94 billion km around the
sun, and want our moment to be special.
You duck and I’ll swing,
In an infant breath of sudden breeze,
my hundred thousand parts neither
choice nor mathematics,
but something in between.
Look to the birds and wonder.
All things become less ordered over time,
and these might too,
as nature, the builder,
wars with the rules.
Finnbar Howell
Finnbar has an undergrad in Physics and
Astronomy, and an MA in Creative Writing. He
has hosted two radio shows, about Science
and Literature respectively.
Page 12
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
Forest >
2016, encaustic on panel, 120cm x 162cm
Forest (detail) >
Page 14
Rabbit brush >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 20.5cm x 30.5cm
Installation image:
On grey wall, clockwise starting from lower left hand painting:
Rooted barefoot on the grass >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 15cm x 20.5cm
Liquiessence >
2016, encaustic on panel, 15cm x 20.5cm
Rabbit brush >
2015-2016, encaustic on panel, 20.5cm x 30.5cm
Red Saturday >
2015-2016, encaustic on board, 20.5cm x 20.5cm
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
The skipped beat 1 >
2016, encaustic on panel, 15.5cm x 15.5cm
Handstands 2 >
2016, encaustic on board, 25cm x 30cm
The skipped beat 2 >
2016, encaustic on board, 21.5cm x 25.5cm
Metate y mano >
2011-2016, encaustic on panel, 20.5cm x 36cm
On white wall, from left to right:
Drinking from the late night pool >
2016, encaustic on panel, 61cm x 61cm
Envelope >
2016, encaustic on panel, 61cm x 61cm
METAMURMURATION
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WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
< Metamurmuration (detail)
2015-2016, felt and monofilament, dimensions variable.
Metamurmuration (detail) >
2015-2016, felt and monofilament, dimensions variable.
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
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WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
< Metamurmuration, making & installing
Metamurmuration (detail) >
2015-2016, felt and monofilament, dimensions variable.
METAMURMURATION PARTICIPANTS
Page 24
Laura, Winter, Michael, Colin, Katherine, Evie, Carmel, Aoife, Ali,
Kathleen, Lorna, Alana, Maeve, Michael, Joanne, Nuala, Jack, Laoise,
Nikki, Lauren, Claire, Katie, Raine, Rachel, Emma, Freddy, Katie,
Anthony, Grace, Emer, Emma, Claire, Mark, Kaylem, Sam, Liádain,
Rebecca, Elise, Ciara, Will, Leila, Donnchadh, Caitríona, Lara, Brigid,
Ailíse, Cliódhna, Charlotte, Síobhradh, Molly, Mark, Cian. Gary, Cúnla,
Evie, Fionn, Nathaniel, Hannah, Ethan, Hannah, Joe, Melinda, Nicole,
Hannah, Lydia, Alysa, Doug, Terresa, Annabel, Andrew, Ben, Shirley,
Maren, Alex, Taylor, Megan, Katie, Elizabeth, Bryan, Rylee, Sarah,
Victoria, Rebecca, Jane, Tori, Melinda, Lucy, Lavenia. Sandy, Elizabeth,
Amanda, Stephanie, Sydney, Jean, Saga, Kathy, Sara, Catherine, Rilee,
Brynne, Veronica, Jane, Alyssa, Stephanie, Aloe, Pearl, Kelsy, Rachel,
Loretta, Schuyler, Tanner, Clair, Emily, Emily Sue, Nicole, Elizabeth,
Hannah, Megan, Olivia, Ashley, Mary, Jaron, Erika, Jeffrey, Joselyn,
Sarah, Mykaela, Kelsey, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Kaely, Daniel T., Rachel,
Leea, Natalie, Brianne, Alexander, Philip, Eliza, Rachel, Roni, Annelise,
Kandree, Moira, Kallie, Morgan, Jacob, Teresa, Caitlin, Hannah, Cayla,
Caroline, Chloe, Nichole, Madison, Claire, Hailey, Julia, Hannah, Camille,
Ryan, Micah, Sydney, Mikaela, Steven, Savannah, Sarah, Madeline,
Rocio, Whitney, Dan, Jenny, Denise, Julie, Natalia, Julianna, Haley,
Abrianna, Luca, Jack.
SKIMMING STONES
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WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
Installation image:
< Skimming Stones, a collaboration between Joanna Kidney and Liadain Herriott
2015-2016, HD Video.
Skimming Stones, a collaboration between Joanna Kidney and Liadain Herriott (production stills) >
2015-2016, HD Video.
Page 30
WE ARE HURTLING INTO THE FUTURE
Installation image:
Skimming Stones, a collaboration between Joanna Kidney and Liadain Herriott >
2015-2016, HD Video.
KNOWLEDG
LEDGMENTS
aCKNOWLEdGMEnTS
ENTS
Huge thanks to Galway Arts Centre;
Maeve Mulrennan for all her input and
the catalogue foreword, Eva Bourke
for her Exhibition Opening Words,
Finnbar Howell for the catalogue poem,
Nathan Somers for the catalogue design
and Tom Flanagan for the exhibition
documentation.
and all at Ballinglen Arts Foundation,
Co. Mayo and dear Outpost Studios
Artists. And thank you to the following
friends for various and important
reasons (you know what they are) Karyn
Hurley, Justin Synnott, Ronan Tierney,
Lisa Smyth, David Begley, Rachel Fallon
and Ann Marie Webb
Sending waves of gratitude to the 180
pairs of hands that contributed to
Metamurmuration over the 15 months
of its making. Beyond thankful to Dan
Barney, Pearl Corry, Megan Mitchell Arné
and Annelise Duque from Utah for their
invested assistance installing it.
We Are Hurtling Into The Future is
published to coincide with the exhibition
Joanna Kidney: We Are Hurtling Into The
Future, 9 December 2016 – 14 January
2017, at the Galway Arts Centre, Galway.
Funding for Skimming Stones was very
gratefully received from Wicklow County
Council. Special thanks to Jenny Sherwin
and Donna Carroll at Wicklow Arts Office.
Liadain and myself would like to thank
Lanka Perren, Julia Constabel, Niamh
O’Donnell and Mermaid Arts Centre,
Temple Bar Gallery+ Studios, Anthony
Kelly, Common Ground Co-Operative
and All City Graffiti.
Major thanks to Denis and Ann Kidney;
Joseph Ostraff and the Ostraff family;
Margo Dolan, Úna Forde, Chrissie Tighe
Photography: Tom Flanagan
Design: www.nathansomersdesign.ie
Print: CRM Design & Print
Edition: 500
Published by Joanna Kidney, 2016
© Joanna Kidney, 2016
Web: www.joannakidney.com
All rights are reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior permission in writing from the
authors and publisher.
For Nathan, Luca and Evie.