 Brian Eno, 2003 Intallation view, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne Lucy McKenzie Momentum 2 Scottish artist Lucy McKenzie is the second artist featured in the ICA's new "Momentum" series. McKenzie's sophisticated and diverse body of work - which includes paintings, performances, drawings, photographs, and muralst - has garnered attention throughout Europe. She has also written short stories, curated exhibitions, designed record covers, and organized a series of art "happenings" in Glasgow called "Flourish Nights", which feature avant-garde music, film, and art. This exhibition, which will include an architecture-inspired mural made specifically for the ICA, allows US audiences the first in-depth look at McKenzie's work. McKenzie's endless creativity, artistic versatility, and enthusiastic interest in collaboration have contributed to her recent prominence in the art world. She approaches each activity with the same intensity, without delineating between so-called "art" and "non-art" activities. This is in keeping with the current, vibrant cultural scene in Scotland, and particularly Glasgow. Michael Bracewall's recent article "Scotland Rocks" in "Tate" magazine (which mentions McKenzie as a key "player" in Glasgow) commented that in Glasgow there is: "... a genuine questioning of cultural status and of the boundaries between media, audience, and intentionality." Because McKenzie blends a diversity of media and blurs boundaries between art and popular culture, her work resists easy interpretation and association with any particular artistic style or movement. She combines elements from art history, visual/popular culture, music, and graffiti. In particular, many of her paintings reveal a keen interest in the history of former Communist countries; she has created several murals that mimic the style of socialist propagandistic art, yet merged with imagery from the present. Born in Glasgow in 1977, McKenzie studied fine art at the Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, Scotland and the Karlsruhe Kunst Akademie, Germany. McKenzie has had solo exhibitions at Foundation Galerie Foksal, Warsaw; Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin; Tate Britain, London; and the Cabinet Gallery, London. She has also been included in numerous group exhibitions including the 2003 Venice Biennale, "Painting on the Move" at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2002), and "Painting at the Edge of the World" at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001). "Momentum" is an ongoing program, complementing major exhibitions, that provides an environment for visitors and artists that truly embraces risk and experiment, enabling both to test new waters. Exhibition: September 22, 2004 - January 2, 2005 Opening Hours: Tue, Wed, Friday, noon - 5 pm Thur, noon - 9 pm Sat/Sun 11 am - 5 pm The Institute of Contemporary Art 955 Boylston Street USA-Boston MA 02115 Telephone +1 617-266-5152 Fax +1 617-266-4021 Email info@icaboston.org www.icaboston.org |
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