Laura Gannon’s new works are abstract drawings made with metallic ink on linen. The linen has been subjected to multiple processes to reveal its corporeality: folding, bending, wrinkling. Gannon describes these works as “sculptural drawings” or “performative drawings”, suggesting both their raw physicality and directness. Although having the bones of minimalism, Gannon circumnavigates straight lines, masking tape and 90° angles. These physically-scaled drawings reveal both their humanity and relationship to the body.
Laura Gannon’s new works oscillate between drawing, sculpture and painting. She has stated, “there is an element of what I term psychological data embedded in the work.” Thought and time are suggested through each mark, and each shadow of a mark. Some of the linen works are hung fractionally away from the wall to create a heightened relationship with light and movement. In smaller works on paper Gannon continues the use of metallic inks with momentary gasps of brighter colour. Through reduction and repetition Gannon imbues these sculptural drawings with fragility and sensuality.
In addition to the works on linen and paper, Gannon is showing her film Silver House, with sound composition by Susan Stenger. The film is an intimate portrait of a house in West Cork whose distinctive, modern interior frames landscapes that fall to the Atlantic Ocean. A poetic description of the faded glory of a richly textured house, the film marks a striking parallel to Gannon’s sculptural drawings, with its articulation of temporality, light and space, fading modernity and the act of looking.
LAURA GANNON was born 1972 in Galway, Ireland, she lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Espace Croisé, Centre d’Art Contemporain, France, 2016; Silver House, Uillinn; West Cork Arts Centre, Ireland, 2015. Group shows include Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen, May 2018, Show Window, Kate MacGarry, London, 2016; Folly: Art After Architecture, Glucksman Gallery, Cork, 2014; A House of Leaves, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, 2013. A House in Cap-Martin was included in Customary Beauty, Mor-Charpentier, Paris, 2011; Silver House was screened as part of the Official Selection Milano Design Film Festival, 2017.
