Catherine Mackey
By the time my paintings are finished it is highly likely that the subject matter will no longer exist. This is not because I work from vintage photos but because the things which interest me are usually slated for demolition or slowly disintegrating due to abandonment and the forces of nature.
On the surface my work is about this disintegration. But stories are discovered as the previously-unseen layers are exposed by the deconstruction. Between the layers I am pondering the issues of renewal, and the changes in information, manufacturing and distribution systems which render existing building designs obsolete. The energy of the New pushing out memories of lives lived in the Old. Change and loss.
This exploration of narratives woven into our environments is continued with my use of street posters and their integration into the painted image. As I separate the fragments of paper, revealing unexpected images and words, I find myself peering into the lives of others. I may be seeing candidates for a local election, a circus coming to town, or a music event. This voyeuristic adventure is tinged with the sadness of the outsider – watching but not participating.
These narrative revelations happen everywhere: construction scars, old signage, and fading graffiti tell the story of the city, while in rural areas the old barns, rendered useless by the industrialized scale of contemporary agricultural processes, gradually collapse under the weight of lost livelihoods and memories.
