Opinion
Medrie MacPhee Paints with a Tailor’s Shears
THE DAILY PIC: Launching the new Tibor de Nagy space, MacPhee turns gussets and welts into the language of painting.
Blake Gopnik
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THE DAILY PIC (#1814): This canvas is by painter Medrie MacPhee, from her current solo show in the new Tibor de Nagy space on the Lower East Side in New York. MacPhee’s new body of work, with its collaged garment parts, is a big departure for her, and I think it succeeds.
I like the way she draws attention to the textilian (if I may) nature of any painted canvas – if you cut along the outlines of her forms you could just about wear her pictures. She’s also found a wonderful way to introduce the figure into painting without ever painting a figure. In fact, what could be more abstract than the shapes used to make clothing? They are themselves; you can’t make them point to something else.
MacPhee’s found forms present her with an excellent set of restrictions to deal with and formal problems to solve. And in a world where art has become one more symptom of over-consumption, it’s nice to see a show where recycling is the name of the game. (Courtesy the artist and Tibor de Nagy)
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