Artist: Emma McMillan
Exhibition title: Live Burial
Venue: Bad Reputation, Los Angeles, US
Date: December 21, 2017 – February 4, 2018
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Bad Reputation, Los Angeles
Bad Reputation is pleased to present Emma McMillan Live Burial.
Throughout the Gothic period and the Renaissance, the art of stained glass painting was one of the most prominent methods of image making. The technique of painting glass comprised a process of additive and reductive methods.
In many windows, vitreous paint, a mixture of glass particles and adhesive liquid, was applied to the interior side of the glass while layers of silver stain were applied to the surface that would eventually face the outside. During the firing process the silver stain would turn a yellow color that would range in hue from lemon to gold. The vitreous layers would be partially ground away or carved into, exposing the silver stain on the exterior side and adding a sense of three dimensionality. This unique method of delineation was enhanced by a direct engagement with the fluctuation of natural light to form a determining element of the figuration and narrative. The colors and density were influenced by the time of day, weather conditions and season.
The oil on canvas work presented in this debut solo exhibition are a rich substrate, formed over years and composed of a variety of motifs the artist painted on the same canvas. These layers were eventually excavated with knives and dremel tools, materials removed in pursuit of a disembodied narrative, the end result both palimpsest and an arresting instance of steadfast iconoclasm.
Emma McMillan (b. 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia) lives and works in New York City. BFA, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, School of Art (2012); Recent exhibitions include: Dollhouse of a Poem, Praterstrasse 32/308, Vienna, Austria (2017); Nut, MAW Projects, New York, New York (2017); June, organized by Christopher Viaggio, Rockaway Park, New York (2017); Sod Walker, Tomorrow, organized by Will Sheldon, with Raffaela Hanley. White Columns, New York (2017); No Hope, No Fear, Instituto Svizzero di Roma, Rome, Italy (2016); Skin of a Drum, Taylor Macklin, Zurich, Switzerland (2016); Under the Volcano, Lomex, New York, New York (2016); Hard Times, What? Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York, New York (2016). McMillan is represented in collection of Museum für Moderne Kunst, Vienna, Austria. Alex Katz Foundation, Colby College Maine.
