Paula McCartney
A Field Guide to Snow and Ice
We are delighted that our first exhibition for 2014, is A Field Guide to Snow and Ice. This is Paula McCartney's second solo show at the gallery. Made between 2008–2011, it's a highly anticipated follow-up to the artist's Bird Watching exhibition in 2010.
Backyard Snow #2, 2010 © Paula McCartney
Based upon the premise of the 'field guide'—a book used to accurately identify natural objects—McCartney's new photogrpahs are a visual representation of her idea of winter.
A Field Guide to Snow and Ice is a sophisticated set of photographs, contiuing her visual exploration of truth and fabrication in the photographic image and natural world. The 28 artworks that make up the exhibit, are a sequential installation of modestly-sized photographs, interweaving natural elements and constructed environments—we see snowfalls, frozen waterfalls, stalagmites and snowdrifts.
McCartney's representation of abstracted elements, reveals a nuanced ambiguity of scale and substance, causing what has been photographed, to transcend its origin. This is not an exhibition to take for granted, but one to explore carefully, particularly its use of a collapse between creative and scientific languages.
"I see winter everywhere, in every environment, in every season and categorize it by pattern, shape, and line rather than merely by substance", says Paula McCartney.
Developed over the course of several years, and demonstrating a remarkable maturity and development in her artistic practice, this is a must-see exhibition.
The photographs are available as follows:
Varying Sizes: 16" x 13" | 16" x 16" | 16" x 19"
Edition: 7
Medium: Archival Pigment Prints on Canson Baryta.
Prices: $900, increasing as the editions sell.
Accompanying the exhibition is On Thin Ice, In A Blizzard—a limited edition artist book featuring a selection of photographs from A Field Guide to Snow and Ice.
See the complete series of photographs here.
The exhibition continues through to February 15, 2014.