|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
| Installation details of "To Friend and Foe" Deitch Projects, September 9 - October 9, 1999 |
|
“To Friend and Foe”
|
 |
|
|
|
Margaret Kilgallen's
installation "To Friend and Foe" envelops the viewer in a litany
of phrases,
words, and names. Sometimes these words are painted directly
on the wall, such as the enormous "CHEAT STEAL LIE" which reaches
from floor to ceiling and stretches the entire length of one wall,
only to trail off onto yet another surface. What begins as a phrase
written on a two-dimensional plane becomes a text written on an
illusionistically rendered banner. Jumping out from the wall and
painted in a "Wild West" style, the phrase echoes saloons, bandits,
and the sense that every man is out for himself. Only, in Kilgallen's
installation, it's clear that the artist's interest is contemporary
women and not an iconic gunslinger from the past. Female figures
loom large in the artist's work. Along the floor is painted a band
of ocean-like water that seems to originate from a weeping
woman the size of a Titan. Providing waves for a group of female
surfers
downstream - an updated depiction of the mythical American West
- this gargantuan woman's tears fall from her eyes in a way that
is as emotionally cool as Kilgallen's graphic style of painting.
Diagonally across the room from the forlorn lady, two warring
women occupy a corner of the installation. In the midst of a
street fight, one woman wields a broken wine bottle while the other
arms herself with her fists. Enormous, each figure is depicted with
weaknesses: the woman with the bottle has lost her shoe and the
other has a Band-Aid on her ankle. At the scale of two gods warring
over the fate of the world, each woman has her own Achilles' heel
and is ultimately grounded in a sense of human frailty, power, and
anger.
Frequent inhabitants of Kilgallen's installations, images of women can often be found eating, drinking, or playing the banjo. In "To Friend and Foe," the artist juxtaposes images of women at war with images of people holding hands, surfing, or simply standing together. Kilgallen paints each woman with full-bodied, dark lips. A uniting feature of her many characters, it seems only natural that Kilgallen would accentuate this area of the body as this is also the place where speech and song are produced. Often accompanied by single words such as"SPEEDBALL," "MAR," "BLUE," "PRIDE," "STUBBORN" and "KOOK," the women and words feel connected, and not solely by the artist's hand which paints them both. While each word seems somehow lifted from a greater context or conversation, the figures too are plucked from their daily activities. Presented in single, ephemeral moments, Kilgallen often paints her figures simply standing or smoking. While some images are tense with action, such as two women back-to-back at the start of a gunfight, others are remarkably prosaic in the way they capture a man or woman staring out from the painting or in profile. This mirrors to a certain degree the overall form of Kilgallen's installations. Overpowering in scale and dense with information, the artist's installations exist but for a brief moment in time. Joining panoramic theatricality with an essentially ephemeral art form, Kilgallen's installations embody the fleeting drama that is life
|
|
|
