Having completed her residency in The Model Sligo, as winner of The Model Residency Award, Arlene sees the second realization of her exhibition 'Reflections', recently exhibited in The Hyde Bridge Gallery.
"Hybridization is the ways in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practices"
(Rowe and Schelling 1991:231).
My work can be seen as a metaphor for the discussion of integration and multiculturalism as a demographic model in western society. I am using classification as a form of process within the work, combining materials that highlight hybridization.
Although the work is characterised by the use of animal material, the animals rarely speak for themselves. I combine found and gathered objects with the animals in order to talk about topics within the social and political sphere. In order to do this, I often anthropomorphize the animals to metaphorically talk about the intricacies within humanity. Hybrid forms in flying positions demonstrate the coming together of different races as a result of emigration while cabinet works with classified elements talk about the battle between evolution and religion.
Although playful and often humorous, the work shows dark undertones and in a constantly twisting play between fantasy and reality I try to emphasise the borderline between life and death. The animals are re-born to remind people of the life they lived and also to remind people of the similarities between their lives and ours. There are constant battles within the animal world just as there is within our world and so, I try to use animals that are surrounded by history and symbolism within my work.
The contrast between beauty, luxury and greed coupled with the mystery of death, timelessly preserved, transports one into a transient state of mind, in which anything is possible. My work aims to bring people closer to an honest perception of reality pictured through a lens of critical fantasy. - Arlene McPadden
"Hybridization is the ways in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practices"
(Rowe and Schelling 1991:231).
My work can be seen as a metaphor for the discussion of integration and multiculturalism as a demographic model in western society. I am using classification as a form of process within the work, combining materials that highlight hybridization.
Although the work is characterised by the use of animal material, the animals rarely speak for themselves. I combine found and gathered objects with the animals in order to talk about topics within the social and political sphere. In order to do this, I often anthropomorphize the animals to metaphorically talk about the intricacies within humanity. Hybrid forms in flying positions demonstrate the coming together of different races as a result of emigration while cabinet works with classified elements talk about the battle between evolution and religion.
Although playful and often humorous, the work shows dark undertones and in a constantly twisting play between fantasy and reality I try to emphasise the borderline between life and death. The animals are re-born to remind people of the life they lived and also to remind people of the similarities between their lives and ours. There are constant battles within the animal world just as there is within our world and so, I try to use animals that are surrounded by history and symbolism within my work.
The contrast between beauty, luxury and greed coupled with the mystery of death, timelessly preserved, transports one into a transient state of mind, in which anything is possible. My work aims to bring people closer to an honest perception of reality pictured through a lens of critical fantasy. - Arlene McPadden
