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About Mary Eighteen
Statement
I Look at land and the lived experience of being in a place.
The lived experience, focuses on fields and their ability to traverse history, memory and time. Fields are imbued with both past and present, permeating the notion of things as they once were, while reflecting on the way things are now. When I am painting, the canvas becomes the lived experience. Working with colour, light and several painted layers the process touches on moments in time both from the past, and within the here and now. The narrative within the work reflects on memory in order to realise how it can be reimagined within the present. Being half Irish, childhood summers were often spent in the green fields of Ireland. The green fields of the past however, do not present such similar experiences within our present times. As such, there is also nostalgia within such memories, but equally hope for a more verdant future. Running in fields in the past is reimagined via a focus on verdancy and the lushness of things that are growing. Through the freedom of painting and the canvas, I seek to address these issues by reflecting on how a memory or place can be transformative when given new life within the present.
About
Mary studied fine art at Leeds College of Art, followed by a postgraduate year in education.
Working in further education She enjoyed the supervision of students portfolios for their entry to art school, and was always delighted to see them succeed. Their inspiration fed the drive to develop her own work. After several years of teaching, she studied for an MA in philosophical aesthetics at the University of East London. This proved to be transformative. Weekends spent in Waterstones researching journals and writings on aesthetics, combined with regular visits to galleries and exhibitions lit the fire for theory being turned into practice. She managed the MA part time, while still working full time.
The development of her own work, was unexpectantly paralelled by the arrival of a global pandemic. . During this time, finding herself, like so many, isolated in a lock down, she consistently painted, working most days, eventually arriving at the work she is doing now. The present paintings have grown out of time for reflection, and the time to think and work when we were all dealing with new perspectives.
Mary's use of paint as a medium to express notions of nostalgia, memory, and the importance of how the past affects the present, is a continual relationship. The lived experience and the act of painting determines a narrative in her work, explored through the transformative qualities of paint. The lived experince of land is mainly concentrated on the notion of fields as a symbol of verdancy and fresness, and the need to re-kindle this within our present time. She draws on childhood memories thoughts, and experiences in order to reflect this.
Exhibitions
JUNE 2018 - FEBRUARY 2019: Time taken to work on studio practice and to define and develop work. The months spent working independently, with no applications for exhibitons or relative situations, has been a time for reflection and positive thinking. See Statement and background information for more information.
DECEMBER 7th 2017: CORNFORTH GALLERY AND STUDIOS NEWBURY. Christmas Salon Exhibition: December 7th - December 23rd
SOLO EXHIBITION: February 2017: ONCA GALLERY BRIGHTON: SULLIED SEAS: 16th-26th February: This was the first solo exhibiton and an exciting experience. The exhibition, Sullied Seas addressed ocean toxicity. Workshops and talks ran alongside the exhibiton. On 23rd February, there were talks from myself and also the National Oceanography Centre Southampton. See ONCA GALLERY website for details of what events supported the exhibiton. Also my news page on www.maryeighteen.com
November 2016: BRICK LANE GALLERY: RURAL VS Urban: 10th-20th November with - Emanuele Basile, KreaSteve, Mark Franklin, Pascal Fessler, Ronni Ravon Glucksam, Zephyra Vun, Mary Eighteen
August 2016: SUGAR AND SPICE : Curated by Plastic Propaganda:St Katharine Dock: London. 21st August - 4th September with - Simon Brewster, Ros Burgin, Russell Coleman, Deborah Croftes, Karen Doyle, Jackie Duckworth, Susam Eyre, Ryan Everson, Mourle Ferryman, Josephine Harvatt, Justine Johnson, Sarah Needham, Ruth Packam, Clare Smith, Jacqueline Talbot, Ian Vines, Jane Walker, Sally Ward, Mary Eighteen.
May 2016: NAUTICAL PERSPECTIVES: Exhibited with Plastic Propaganda. Devon House St Katherine Dock. London with - Mira Andres, Anya Beaumont, Simon Brewster, Richard Brooks, Mandy Broughton, John Butterworth, Lizzie Cannon, Richard Clarke, P oppy Clover, Anjula Crocker, Deborah Crofts, Robert Lee Davis, Jackie Duckworth, Lisa evans, Emma Finch, Liesha Jane, Linda Lieberman, Jez Giddings, Lucy Gresley, Mark Howland, JF Masson, Sarah Needham, Victoria Paquino, Peter Sainty, Angela Smith, Clare Smith, Vinnie Stapley, Marion Stuart, Dani Tagen, Ian Vines, Sally Ward.
ONGOING: Collaboration with a UK based Multimedia artist, who has an interest in Science and the Anthropocene. Working on The Ocean as Abject, a proposed exhibiton exploring the death of the ocean. Julia Kristeva's essay Powers of Horror, perpetuates the abject as juxtaposed with human trauma. This exhibition appropriates Kristeva's abject, placing abjection within the realms of ocean toxicity. The exhibiton proposal also explores this dilemma by placing video alongside painting as installation. This is to explore the frame as well as the artwork in relation to oceanic ajection.
FORTHCOMING:
2018. ARLINGTON ARTS: INSIGHT EXHIBITION: Saturday 12th May - Sunday 3rd June 2017
2018. COVER TO COVER: WEST BERKSHIRE MUSEUM: Exhibition of Artists sketchbooks. Date to be consolidated
2018: OPEN STUDIOS: West Berkshire and North Hampshire. My Work will be represented by CORNFORTH STUDIOS
2017: ABSTRACT: BETWEEN SEDUCTION AND DEFILEMENT: A VISUAL ENCOUNTER WITH ABJECTION VIA CONCEPTS OF FRAMING WITHIN PAINTNG AND VIDEO is accepted for participation with the University of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania this October 2017. The Abstract is a proposal for the exhibiton The Ocean as Abject (see www.Kristevacircle.com)
PUBLICATIONS
2017: ON SYMBOLS OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. see www.climatecultures.net July 31st
2017: THE OCEAN AS ABJECT: BETWEEN SEDUCTION AND DEFILEMENT: www.climatecultures.net 3rd April
2017: ON SULLIED SEAS. www.climatecultures.com 22ndAugust 2016 March
2016: EXOTICISM< INDIVIDUALISM AND THE AESTHETICS OF DIFFERENCE, in SUGAR AND SPICE an exhibiton of contempoary art and culture (catalogue) August 2016