In the contemporary art world one could easily think that every “medium” is in crisis. There is constant shifting and borrowing among disciplines. This is not a new way of approaching art-making, but artists are increasingly embracing diverse creative and presentational possibilities in order to enhance their ideas and concepts. The idea of layering and juxtaposing images with materials has been practiced since the “readymades” of Marcel Duchamp. But contemporary artists continue to explore the blurring boundaries between images, objects, process, and media in new and exciting ways.
This exhibition showcases the work of Colin Gray, Melissa Manfull, and Ricardo Rodríguez. Though they all grew up in different countries, there are commonalities in their approach to their work and conceptual interests. Paper and wood form elements of many of the works displayed – either in relation to drawing in the case of Manfull and Gray, or photography in Rodríguez’s work. At the same time, each explores landscapes in one way or another; either by investigating the structure of their media, or by deconstructing the location in which they live.
Melissa Manfull, Colin Gray and Ricardo Rodriguez’s works compose a distinctive exhibition which showcases a hybrid approach to creating and presenting artworks. By borrowing from various different media – two-dimensional and three-dimensional – these artists are straddling the boundaries between them, and liberating themselves from medium-specificity.
