James Kelly Contemporary is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Roy McMakin's new work; this will be his first show at the gallery. This show will consist of new conceptual sculpture, photographs, and furniture works.
Roy McMakin's work is an exploration of form and function. He designs and... Read more
James Kelly Contemporary is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Roy McMakin’s new work; this will be his first show at the gallery. This show will consist of new conceptual sculpture, photographs, and furniture works.
Roy McMakin’s work is an exploration of form and function. He designs and produces furniture works that are sculptural in nature yet functional objects. He was influenced by the furniture of his childhood, most notably the furnishings from his grandparents’ house along with the historic design movements of the Craftsman, Mission, as well as functional Minimalism.
The artist transforms the domestic objects from their originally designed purpose just slightly, in order to call into question their new place in a domestic setting. He does so by slightly changing the scale, materials, or orientation of the work. McMakin even places functional pieces of furniture on plinths elevating them from their everyday purpose to the realm of the art object. Once the item has been manipulated is it still to be considered a piece of furniture even though it no longer functions as it was intended or is it now a work of art that commands a second look?
For the exhibition McMakin has produced several new sculptural and functional works. There will be a conceptual sculpture consisting of two vintage Mission oak chairs that will be partially painted and set in front of a similarly painted section of the gallery wall. The chairs (one with the upper half painted and the other with the lower half painted to match the wall) seem to float away from and meld together with the wall behind them. In addition, there is a vintage curio cabinet that has been turned upside down, although it still serves it’s original purpose it now takes on another meaning with the shift in perspective. McMakin has also designed a simple shelf with a cuphook, not unlike the kind found in many of today’s homes, except in his version there is only one cuphook instead of a row spanning the entire shelf.
McMakin will also be showing several of his color photographs in which he has photographed everyday household object. The photos are unique because they are a combination of shots taken in order to capture a true scale reproduction that is devoid of the curve from the camera lens. The objects are shot numerous times and then digitally arranged so that there is no firm point of view, the resulting images have a flat straight forward appearance and at times there are variations in the color gradient of the work that is a result of collaging together so many different images.
McMakin’s work has been exhibited widely in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has also been commissioned by museums such as The J. Paul Getty Museum; The Missoula Art Museum; The Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington; Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle; and The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Gallery hours for the duration of this show are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00-5:00 p.m. Saturday from 12:00-5:00 p.m. Monday by appointment.
