Medrie MacPhee All of the Parts, None of the Pieces
Over recent years MacPhee has explored notions of dislocation and displacement in large scale paintings featuring what appeared to be mostly abandoned encampments or shelters of survivors. There was the strong appearance of underpainting and pentimento. Past and present were perceived simultaneously through this layering and the layers, as well as the palette and shapes were poised in continual dialogue. Contradicting, illuminating, creating disjunctive moments much in the way that language might achieve.
MacPhee has recently been moving away from creating a “picture” of instability. As a result the paintings featured in All of the Parts, None of the Pieces are denser and more focused … cropped closer from the edges. Everything presented is broken down, fragmented, destabilized and often free from gravity. The formal properties are also broken down. Some parts are left unpainted while original elements of the underdrawing are left in place.
MacPhee states: “I am creating a fragile moment on the cusp of permanent collapse and renewal. I work with forms that mostly have little solid identification as particular things in the world and the extreme color further distances them. I am interested in how form, however vaguely identified, can coalesce into something readable. Once all context is removed how is meaning itself constructed?”
Medrie MacPhee is a New York based artist. MacPhee has exhibited extensively in North America and Europe in solo and group exhibitions and is featured in numerous museum and international collections.
