Ruth Cleland: Mall

Ruth Cleland’s exhibition Mall features a series of works on paper that document suburban shopping malls located around Auckland and Hamilton. This exhibition represents two years of work, including drawings that were completed during a three-month artist residency at the Vermont Studio Centre, USA in 2009.

Cleland's work embraces the uniformity of suburban commercial spaces. The absence of people and the removal of distinguishable details suggest that these scenes could be anywhere in New Zealand, or around the world. Images are paired together, creating compositional relationships between various mall locations and focusing attention towards particular details of these spaces. Perspectival distance shots sit alongside almost flat surfaces of detail, such as pavement or floor tiles, which are magnified to the point of abstraction.

The methodical and obsessive photorealist process used to make these works emulates the homogeneity of the subject matter, while inviting the viewer to slow down and investigate what might have otherwise been overlooked. This relationship between homogeneity and the handmade is further explored in these works through the grid. At first the grid appears to be a uniform pattern, as it underlies, overlays, maps, contains and partially conceals the photorealist drawings. But upon closer inspection, the imperfections and unique characteristics of each hand-drawn line become apparent. In some works the grid is presented alongside an image or on its own; multiplied and layered upon itself to not only suggest the proximity of a surface, but also the possibility of the grid obscuring a view beyond.

Ruth Cleland is based in Auckland and has an MFA degree from the Otago School of Art. She has won several awards including the Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award (2001), Waikato National Art Awards (2003), and the Park Lane Wallace Trust Development Award (2008).

Information for invite image: Ruth Cleland, Car Park with Grid (detail), 2010. Graphite pencil on paper.

Event listed by gusfishergallery

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