Thingness
press release
Caitlin MacBride
Linda Wallis
December 4th – December 19th 2021
Opening Reception: Saturday December 4th, 6 – 8PM
Saturdays + Sundays 1-6PM
Curated by Georgia Elrod
Underdonk is pleased to present Thingness, an exhibition that brings together two artists that explore object-hood. Caitlin MacBride and Linda Wallis make paintings and works on paper that present objects from an alternate reality or place in time; perhaps these pieces depict our past and our future simultaneously.
MacBride questions the larger systems in place that create objects, stating “the painting becomes an archeological site for moments of longing across time and physical space. I engage an overlap between object relations and the literal object, an inanimate entity owned and observed. The object exists by our perception, therefore the object is always the other. Many of them are functional, and subvert our associations by creating painterly settings that are deeply intentional.”
Wallis says, “to define my work is a challenge as the unconscious is, by its very nature, intangible. Although themes are constantly changing, many pieces reference unconscious and conscious preoccupations such as entrapment, exposure and expulsion.” Indeed the objects in Wallis’ works are often depicted in corners, becoming personified as they are enclosed within invented settings.
These two artists generate their work in very different ways. MacBride engages with historical objects, often functional, exploring identity and desire through the intentionality of subject, composition, surface and color. Wallis develops her works by subduing intentional thought and inviting subconscious imagery to unfold through time and her materials. Though the process of creation differs these painted objects come alive; they hum with animation. They reveal a deep connection between artist and subject. These works challenge us to reconsider how we perceive the objects that exist both in our lives and in our minds.
Caitlin MacBride is an artist based in Hudson, NY. Her work engages material culture and artifacts in an exploration of labor, desire, and belief systems. MacBride’s paintings balance various languages of painting with the structures of utilitarian objects sourced from museum archives. MacBride has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College. She has shown at Fisher Parrish, Heroes, Chapter NY, Real Fine Arts, Greene Naftali, Zach Feuer, Jack Barrett Gallery, Hesse Flatow, and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein among others. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Modern Painters, Art Forum, New York Magazine, and Vogue.com.
www.caitlinmacbride.com
Linda Wallis is a Nottingham, UK-based artist working primarily in colored pencils. With a love of form and a sense of the bizarre, her drawings teeter between the plausible and the ridiculous; a strange array of objects and shapes that appear to depict something tangible. In 2017 Linda made a dramatic break from painting city and townscapes to focus on what she believes are manifestations of her unconscious. By reappropriating pattern, form, shape and texture from everyday and ordinary things, she brings to life an eccentric array of mischievous constructions on paper. Linda’s work is held in private collections in the United States, China, Ireland, Tasmania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
www.lindawallis.com
Underdonk
1329 Willoughby Ave #211
Brooklyn, NY 11237
L train to Jefferson St
