Memories, Dreams, & Reflections
a solo exhibition by deirdre doyle @ dvaa
Exhibition Runs: january 29th - february 16th, 2020
public Opening Reception:
Wednesday, January 29th, 6-8pm
About the exhibition:
Deirdre’s work is neoclassical and post apocalyptic, pairing everyday objects with art drawn from antiquity. She assembles toys, figurines and discarded objects, which in a new cohesive sculpture take on symbolic meanings as building blocks of a mythical world. By manipulating scale, color and context, Deirdre changes the objects’ significance and meaning; and injects mythological stories and allegorical themes. These stories and themes reemerge when a viewer creates their own mythological tale of the work’s creation.
The Jungian concept of anima (the female in male) and animus (the male in female) appears in her work, which invariably strives to balance elements of dark and light, male and female, and death and rebirth. Deirdre's assemblages embody both physical and conceptual art when recognizable artifacts of everyday life are altered to fit a new narrative. The act of viewing her work is itself a visceral extension of the work, as the viewer identifies objects and mythologizes the artist’s assemblage of the piece. Her sculptures force viewers to provoke, distort, and rewrite our mythological basis of everyday existence.
About the Artist:
Deirdre’s early inspirations were Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp. In addition to Dadaism and Pop Art, Deirdre’s art draws from a wide foundation of sources, including steampunk, temples and statues from ancient Greece and Rome, the creative and disturbing imagery of Hieronymus Bosch, Kurt Schwitters’ assemblages of cast off materials, Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical landscapes and distortion of scale, Louise Nevelson’s puzzle-like sculptures, Artemisia Gentileschi’s paintings of strong women from myths and biblical tales of victims, suicides, and warriors, and contemporary assemblage artists Nick Cave and Kris Kuksi.
As a young mother, Deirdre had an affinity for the army men, matchbox cars and happy meal toys her children played with. Viewing these items as iconic and meaningful, she held onto the toys knowing that they would someday be part of her art. Deirdre has exhibited her assemblages at Da Vinci Art Alliance, Art & Cultural Council of Bucks County, Kerns Gallery, and Chimayo Gallery.