 Escape, 2003 Mixed media installation Caroline McCarthy Hammer Sidi is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new installation work by Irish artist Caroline McCarthy. McCarthy's skill and ingenuity in both exploring and playing with our perceptions of the fabricated world remains central to her work. For some years McCarthy's work has turnes to consumer packaging as material to work with. Here she hones in on the aspirational considerations of packaging designed to appeal to a mass audience. Pattern, shape, colour, design, etc., are used to communicate meaning-often the kind of meaning which is less to do with the function of the thing, thank conveying the idea of an idyllic existence as found in the popular imagination. In the main gallery, McCarthy presents "Promise". This major new work presents an intersection of dinner packaging with plastic plant-pots. Packaging used in this work is specifically that which illustrates the meal with a sprig of garnish on top as an optional (unprovided) extra. The little green addition is there to attract us - like bait. It has a healthy, closer-to nature appeal. In "Promise", the pot is used to highlight and nurture the little sprig, each cut out to stand erect and feed from this luxurious bed of wanton design. "Mirage", a small work in the front gallery, is a light-box image which depicts a drinks vending-machine found in a train station. Where one may ordinarily rush by the vending machine, the image allows the viewer to spend time considering its appeal, one where nature's bounty calls out to human thirst. Exhibition: 3 December 2003 - 17 January 2004 Hours: Wed-Sat 12am - 6pm Hammer Sidi Gallery 53 Fashion Street UK-London E1 6PX Telephone +44 020.7377 2137 Fax +44 020.7377 9319 E-Mail info@hammersidi.com www.hammersidi.com |
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