In the context of the artist’s sculptural compositions, a vase, for instance, seems to be an uncanny imitation of what ‘a vase’ might be presumed to look like. ‘Bronze Form’ (2009), for example, takes the shape of a bowl that seems at odds with its own aesthetic form. Cast in bronze from a domestic readymade model, ‘Bronze Form’ shares an awkward relationship with its new material – the visual incorrectness of the object presents an aporia between its initial mass-produced form and its current emblematic or classical state. This vessel appears to uncomfortably house – or perhaps embody – the memory of its own transformation.
Macdonald pushes this manner of conceit to an extreme with his totemic ‘Black Triptych’ (2009), where the sepulchral use-value of the monumental structure appears to collide with its own materiality – a synthetic resin which poses as coal-tar or iron. ‘Black Triptych’ is built to the exaggerated or imagined dimensions of the artist. Its ineluctable presence suggests a wry examination of Macdonald’s own authority within the exhibition tableaux. At once elegiac and austere, ‘Black Triptych’ can conversely appear as a witness to or dark reflection of the viewer’s own role in the gallery space.
Plaster multiple ‘Relief 1-5’ (2009), meanwhile, serves as a backdrop to this tableau. Lining the walls of the gallery, the series provides a distinct formal backdrop to the works it encloses. Macdonald’s initially intuitive act of gouging, smoothing and displacing material around a single wet clay block with his own hands is perversely countered by the serial reproduction and, in turn, individual painting of each cast, to form a shallow wall relief. The effect of looking at these pale backdrops is one of intensification of the initial action – the repeated bodily gesture is amplified to the point where it resembles rhythm. The original object is transformed into an unlikely arabesque, a multiple that uneasily shifts between choreographed arrangement and something like a cartographical vista.
Assembled within a single space, these objects have a collective intention. They act as entry points or support structures to the wider scenarios that Macdonald seeks to provoke. The accretion and reiteration of embattled objects builds up a highly symbolic realm that challenges the easy receivership of familiar forms. Embedded within Macdonald’s finely wrought scenarios, the viewer is encouraged to trace spatial and emotional relationships between discrete objects.
