Fugue State
Fugue state is a psychiatric term for a state of dissociation and disorientation, in which a person temporarily loses the sense of who and where they are, a kind of rupture in the sense of continuity and identity. In the daily transition from sleeping to waking, we may likewise briefly experience the undoing of our sense of self, before we gradually reassemble the fragments of our identity and recover ourselves.
The artists in this two-person exhibition are both concerned with investigating such states of mind and such moments in time. Christine captures those moments of transformation, when the play of light renders the domestic space suddenly unfamiliar, or the familiar abstract. She is interested in the inter-play between interior and exterior, light and shadow, and those in-between areas where light and shadow blend, known as the penumbra, the indistinct outer-region of a shadow.
Light is incorporated as a crucial element in Ann's fragile sculptural installations, which seem to be absorbed into the space, the play of light both revealing and concealing as it changes throughout the day. The delicacy and transparency of the materials - silk paper, porcelain and silver wire - contributes to the illusion that they are hovering between emerging and dissolving, between unity and fragmentation, becoming and un-becoming. The juxtaposition of the two artists' work sets up a dialogue between containment and fluidity, weight and weightlessness, object and space.
The two person exhibition will be opened by Gerry Watson, Board Member of the Graphic Studio, Dublin, at 6pm on Thursday 18 September, 2014. All are welcome.
Special thanks to the Embassy of France, Christopher Pingeon and Doireann NĂ Bhriain.
Mermaid Arts Centre's exhibition programme is supported by Craft Picture Framing, Dublin Road, Bray, Co Wicklow..