"Primary Sources" May 2023 capital region center of the arts
Shae Meyer & Angus McCullough
Walk through of the Show...
Primary Sources is a collaborative exhibition between Shae Meyer and Angus McCullough, combining paintings and sculptures in an immersive installation. Rather than encountering these works in a traditional white cube, viewers will encounter them in a dimly lit labyrinth, spinning, pulsating, and glittering beneath spotlights, making the act of viewing emergent, unknown, and expansive. Lights reflected off of water in motion adds to the disorientation of experiencing these pieces in such a different setting. This process of discovery mirrors the studio processes used to create the work.
Shae’s works, called "Apoptosis Residue", are made with acrylic, spit, and charcoal, among other materials. Rather than imposing a predetermined image or form on the canvas, the imagery is the result of physical forces acting freely. Physics determines how the paint and materials fall, allowing air pressure, viscosity, gravity and surface tension to create the resulting image. They are not directly representative, but because they follow these universal forces, they reference phenomena at various scales, from cellular structures all the way to massive nebulas.
Angus’ sculptures, called "Dirt, Moisture, Theft" explore three primary materials of global consumerism: shipping wrap, expanding foam, and enamel paint. The forms are created through an active casting process, where the foam wants to take the shape of its flexible container, and the shipping wrap tries to stretch around the malleable foam. They reach unpredictable equilibriums, and each one is unique. This process produces seemingly organic forms out of these two derivations of petroleum. Once dry, they are painted in an equally uncontrolled way, using hydrographic techniques. Their surfaces are reminiscent of candy, sports jerseys, cars, and advertising, but resist solid identification.
These works were created separately, but both rely on experimentation. They elevate the agency of “stuff” to produce unplanned results, a reminder that when you work with primary sources, your research may take you to unexpected places.
This show was unbelievably difficult to document. the lights were changing subtly in color, giving the paintings and sculptures a feel of expanding and contracting, like lungs filling and expelling, the colors shifted from warm to cold and back. There was water gurgling from the metal pedestals, where rust was taking on a life of its own, forming fissures and rivulets glowing an iridescent orange in the darkened room. light refracted through these pools adding a subtle motion from the vibrations of viewers walking around them. A live show from the legends SevenCOunt.
A truly in person type of show, but i hope what i have compiled here does it some kind of justice.
