17 April – 24 May 2009
Renee So’s first solo show in the gallery comprises a collection of ceramic heads. A staggered formation of black and white characters, with an unspecified lineage located somewhere in antiquity, occupy the space like newly discovered artefacts.
Amongst this display we find faces scored and scratched onto the surface of each figure; framed by what might be hairpieces or wigs bulging out in a honeycomb structure.
As a group these sculptural portraits play out So’s bricolage approach to referencing the visual history of busts and their often mocked figuration; the interior line of a knight’s helmet, the curled hair of an ancient Greek, the handlebar moustache of a 1920s aristocrat, collars and bow ties.
The set of heads appear not so regimental as to connote an army unit, but with their uniform size and dimensions bear witness to the artist’s consistent starting point: a single shape as neck and head. The structure of this base is put together piecemeal, and in places suggests a process by which sections are removed and replaced. Over this surface smoothly shaped facial features are added to each emerging expression.
Katemacgarry
