Mikala Dwyer: Mca Collection
21 Dec 2015 - 21 Feb 2016
Mikala Dwyer
Spell for a Corner, 2015
acrylic on wall, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist
Square Cloud Compound (detail), 2010
fabric stockings, glass, beer, champagne, plastic, ceramics, found things, wood, rocks, lights, paint, acrylic, cat and bird ornaments
Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2015
installation view Mikala Dwyer: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2016,
image courtesy and © the artist
photograph: Jessica Maurer
Spell for a Corner, 2015
acrylic on wall, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist
Square Cloud Compound (detail), 2010
fabric stockings, glass, beer, champagne, plastic, ceramics, found things, wood, rocks, lights, paint, acrylic, cat and bird ornaments
Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2015
installation view Mikala Dwyer: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2016,
image courtesy and © the artist
photograph: Jessica Maurer
MIKALA DWYER: MCA COLLECTION
21 December 2015 - 21 February 2016
Curator: Natasha Bullock
Sydney artist Mikala Dwyer has had a long and involved association with the museum – from the inaugural Primavera in 1992 to the exhibition she curated last year Primavera 2014: Young Australian Artists. For more than three decades, in her own work, she has explored the mysterious and alchemical nature of materials and objects. Across her sculptures and installations, she displays an experimental approach to materials that has been influenced by art povera, dada and constructivism.
Acquired for the MCA Collection, Mikala Dwyer’s Square Cloud Compound is made of brightly coloured fabric cubes sewn into a huge pixelated canopy. This mysterious enclosure is help up by painted lampstands adorned with lights, bird boxes, ornaments, plants, mirrors, charms and trinkets; and held down by tersely stretched stockings attached to the ceiling and floor. The lampstands, painted in a constructivist style of black, white and red stand like mythic sentinels of protection guarding a space. Square Cloud Compound was presented alongside a gift from the artist: a new multi-coloured wall painting that referenced a creature of flight or a phoenix rising.
21 December 2015 - 21 February 2016
Curator: Natasha Bullock
Sydney artist Mikala Dwyer has had a long and involved association with the museum – from the inaugural Primavera in 1992 to the exhibition she curated last year Primavera 2014: Young Australian Artists. For more than three decades, in her own work, she has explored the mysterious and alchemical nature of materials and objects. Across her sculptures and installations, she displays an experimental approach to materials that has been influenced by art povera, dada and constructivism.
Acquired for the MCA Collection, Mikala Dwyer’s Square Cloud Compound is made of brightly coloured fabric cubes sewn into a huge pixelated canopy. This mysterious enclosure is help up by painted lampstands adorned with lights, bird boxes, ornaments, plants, mirrors, charms and trinkets; and held down by tersely stretched stockings attached to the ceiling and floor. The lampstands, painted in a constructivist style of black, white and red stand like mythic sentinels of protection guarding a space. Square Cloud Compound was presented alongside a gift from the artist: a new multi-coloured wall painting that referenced a creature of flight or a phoenix rising.