Refigure
is
a collaborative exhibition by nine final year students of Fine Art in Dublin
Institute of Technology. Meaning ‘to figure again, or anew,’ the show is
curated around the title theme, extending an invitation to the viewer to
consider the importance of their own role in the artistic process. The works on
display encompass a wide range of disciplines, varying from painting to
sculpture, to video, to print and more, yet they are united by a common purpose,
to refigure the audience’s perception in some way. Some pieces challenge the misconceptions
surrounding social taboos, particularly mental illness, and aim to invoke new understanding
and empathy from the viewer. Other works demand a more physical form of interaction
from the viewer in order to be experienced, creating an awareness in the
audience of their role through active participation. More passively engaging
artworks provide contrast to this, presenting the articulated thoughts and
memories of the artist for the viewer to contemplate from the context of their
own perspective. Ultimately, Refigure aims to highlight the importance of the
relationship between the artist and the viewer and draw attention to the
refiguration that occurs to an artwork once the artist has inevitably renounced
control
Refigure is part one of four of the ‘Mini-Exhibition’
project.
Sarah
Murphy, Kat 1 of 3,
Video Installation
My work
is concerning the impact of emotional or psychological trauma, in particular the
trauma of women, which includes domestic violence, rape, sexual assault,physical
and verbal abuse. Following my own theory that all people have experienced trauma
in their life, I want to force the viewer to empathise with the victim and
remind them of emotional traumas, by reflecting the emotions of the victims onto
the viewer. As part of my research I am conversing with women who have
experienced emotional trauma in their lives and are willing to share their
experience.I have invited the women to write their experience in their own
words and send it to me. Through the medium of video, I use the information
form these stories to make conceptual films to represent the trauma.
 |
| Sarah Murphy, Kat |
Natalia
Tysiak, Thoroughfare,
Spot light projection on glicée print.
Natalia
Tysiak’s current body of work has been inspired by the technologies ofmemory,
particularly exploration of memory as oppositions of presence/absence and
fiction/reality. Although artistic practice remained set within printmaking
practice, Natalia applies multi-media methods to produce a finished image.
Thoroughfare is a
proposed view of a point in time, where the transition of reality into a memory
occurs, where time is of ambiguous setting, tangible truth is displaced and becomes
a memento. An intricate glimpse of co-existence of, both, presence and absence.
Ephemeral in nature, challenges notion of remembrance, and suggests duality of
time- time as shared moment (present), and time as individual memento(eternal).
Collision of which, is described by intimacy, that promotes a dialogue on the
inner perception of time of a memory. Light directed onto the print in
secretive manner, is an exclusive-like possibility for the viewer to peek at
the artist’s private experience of time.
 |
| Natalia Tysiak, Throughfare |
Linda
Byrne, I pulled myself back together, but I
fell apart again, Fabriano Paper
The
serious issue of the perception of mental illness, in particular depression, is
the focus of my work. The stigma which surrounds this medical illness is still
prevalent in Irish society today. The personal torment and heavy burden of this
disease on its sufferers is a serious cause for concern. According to the
nation report “Suicide In Ireland,” one of out of every seven sufferers of
depression will commit suicide,
accounting
for 42% of all suicides in the country. Astonishingly suicide accounts for
more deaths per year in Ireland than road traffic accidents, yet people know little
about this or of the underlying disease which leads to suicide. Through my work,
I hope to create understanding of depression, understanding for the viewer and
understanding for the people who are unfamiliar with this illness. I believe
that this stigma needs to be addressed; creating a dialogue through empathy may
lift some of the perception surrounding this illness.
 |
| Linda Byrne, I Pulled Myself Togther But I Fell Apart Again |
Claire
McCluskey, The Place Where Different Places
Meet, Installation (thread, nails, glue, light)
Claire
McCluskey’s work currently observes the nature of autonomy and separateness, with
the aim of drawing attention to the paradoxical nature of this state. Just as ‘no
man is an island,’ nothing can exist without its context, therefore there is no
such thing, really, as pure autonomy. This piece, constructed from thread, is
composed of two
sides, a right set and a left set of threads, that meet in the middle. Each
side supports its opposite, creating a line of consecutive meeting points,
creating a virtual “place” where the two sides meet. Without the threads on
either side supporting those opposite, the whole construction would fall, or
not exist at all. Created specifically for the Refigure exhibition, this piece
aims to reflect the nature of the show, the connection between artist and
audience; that art cannot be made without being observed, and vice versa. The
exhibition itself is the place
where
these opposite entities support each other.
 |
| Claire McCluskey, The Place Where Different Places Meet |
Doug Barrett, Information
Pending, Acrylic on Wood
The
interaction which takes place when the viewer is met with this work takes place
in two separate forms. The first is visual and the second virtual.
Technological communication has become intrinsic to human nature and this work
demonstrates a reliance on technology to deconstruct basic information. Without
the necessary technology such basic information, in this case, the news is
restricted. Information and interpretation are being explored through this work
but also the restrictions of particular information. The arrangement of colour
plays with this notion; that information being received is then perceived
through visual communication to appear as an American flag.
 |
| Doug Barrett, Information Pending |
Eimear
Marie, 1. Distorting,
2. Fading away,
Glass paint on plates.
I use
art and the gallery space as a platform for dealing with serious topic of
mental illness, in particular eating disorders. Statistics show that in Ireland there are
400 new diagnoses annually, with approximately 80 people each year dying from
illness either through organ failure, severe malnutrition, cardiac arrest,
related suicide or other related complications. And these figures are thought
to be a fraction of the actual figures. The reason for this is that it is
thought that there are no reliable statistics on this illness. With many
sufferers never diagnosed for fear of being shamed. You see there is a stigma
attached to this illness in the present day Irish Society today. My hope is
that when the viewer encounters the work based on the personal stories, and
reads the personal stories accompanying the work, they refigure their
perception of what eating disorders are and those affected by them. Using the
personal stories of sufferers in hope that by displaying these, the viewer will
be able to empathise and come to the realisation that living with an eating
disorder is not a choice, not vanity but a serious disease, often developed as
a result of a trauma. And that it is an illness that affects those from all
different classes of society, all races, ages and both genders.
 |
| Eimear Marie, 1.Distorting, 2 Fading Away. |
Meilan Cheung, Dragon
Among Flowers, Ink on Paper, 1.
The
main themes of my artwork are dragon figures and floral patterns. I use Dragon
not
only because 2012 is the lunar year of the Dragon, it is a memory from my
childhood. I remember my father who once painted a
Chinese Dragon for my brother. The
vivid memory of that painting still stays with me. The floral pattern of the “Peony” reminds
me the prints on the curtains, bedding, pyjamas, and kitchen towels in my
childhood home. In Chinese culture, “Peony” symbolizes “Fortune and Wealth”. That
is why my mother used these patterns around the house often. The Dragon also
represents the highest power. It has been known as the symbol of Imperial power
for three thousand years in China.
The Dragon is still known as the symbol of luck,
prosperity, and auspiciousness since the fall of the imperial ruler in 1911.
The works of Michael Lin’s repeated floral patterned wall installations has
influenced me, as well as Lily van der Stokker’s three-dimensional wall
paintings. In addition, Henri Matisse in his cut out shape world, he made his “The
Fabric of Dream” in small-scale. They gave me the creative inspiration that I
have now and hope to carry onto my future development goals.
 |
| Meilan Cheug, Dragon Amoung Flowers |
Carmel
Mannion, Touch It,
Oil, water, plastic
Carmel
Mannion’s work aims to engage the audience in a playful state of participation in
order to demonstrate the necessity of the presence of the audience for the
ongoing life of the artwork. Her works are open-ended creations, never reaching
completion, but persisting in a constant state of refiguration by the audience.
This piece explores the ever changing dynamic between oil and water/artist and
audience; elements that can never be mixed yet remain in a state of interdependency
as they are equally integral to the production of art.
 |
| Carmel Mannion, Touch It |
Mason
McMillen, Untitled (Behind the Work),
Acrylic, charcoal, on canvas, mixed media
This
piece attempts to act as a playful commentary of the relationship between
visual and conceptual elements. By extending the work past the limits of the
canvas, the work in its entirety uses the object as a façade, a distraction.
The concealed section of the standing figure on the wall, hidden by the object,
becomes an idea of visceral curiosity. The image of the back of a figure is
closely associated with the front of the face especially that of the
corresponding figure. However, what lies‘behind’
the presented façade, in relation to the viewer, exists in an obscured reality,
paradoxically existing and not existing. In this sense, the viewer’s curiosity
and assumption embody the work, justifying its humorous visual appearance.
Those inquisitive enough to peek behind the canvas confirm this idea of
curiosity, by breaking a certain taboo of direct physical interaction in
painting.
 |
| Mason McMillen, Untitled (Behind The Work) |
Publication author: Claire McClusky
