Pools of Fir // Caitlin MacBride
Press Release
Presenting a collection of new works MacBride seeks to define the point at which identifying qualities of a given object can be altered until only a pure or defining moment of interest remains. As the objects, often artifacts from museums or private collections, are stripped of their topical aesthetics, MacBride reinterprets silhouettes, scans, and closeups into often monochromatic compositions. Objects are discernible, but their ambiguities are susceptible to discovery, allowing for ever-flowing revelations.
"We treat desire as a problem to be solved, address what desire is for and focus on that something and how to acquire it rather than on the nature and the sensation of desire, though often it is the distance between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with the blue of longing."
-Rebecca Solnit
"This body of work is a series of paintings and photos investigating fragmentation and the study of desire. I'm curious about the way fragments can be understood as a whole... the way disparate elements are joined to construct a series of possibilities. In this way the distance between pieces becomes an examination of desire. I'm interested in painting as an archeological site for moments of longing. By cropping and reframing moments I decide where the moment of desire exists.
My practice has been primarily as a painter for my last nine years in New York. I am currently focused on a body of work that studies both intuition and the transformational interpretations of objects.
I'm interested in the way these works can perform a monologue for two, the object and the subject. My practice engages an overlap between the object of object relations and the literal object, an inanimate something, put on a table and observed. My recent paintings employ the gathering of affective movement via a process of viewing, drawing, and painting displays of fabric and archeological remnants. The process of still life painting is scattered and reframed in new formats. The fragments play a role as a solid point of departure that then leads into a place of personalized improvisation." -Caitlin MacBride
THE ARTIST
Caitlin MacBride lives and works in New York, NY. Continuing her interest in the subtext of the archeological remnant, her current body of work considers not only the information that is provided, but also puts as much weight on what is missing—a desire to fill in the blanks.
MacBride’s work has been exhibited at Chapter NY, Real Fine Arts, Greene Naftali, Zach Feuer and Green and Nostrand. Her work has been written about in The New York TImes, ArtForum, Modern Painters, and New York Magazine.
caitlinmacbride.com
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Residents of Fishers Island Seek Artists for Neighbors", New York Times, Emily J. Weitz, October 2015
"Review of 'Ramping At The Bit'", ArtForum, Paige K. Bradley, April 2015
""Review of 'Ramping At The Bit' Modern Painters, April 2015
