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Rachel Maclean: Myth, National Identity and Power
'When I'm affected by an artwork, it can often be shifting your perception of reality just in an even very minute way. So, I hope that my work gives you a slightly different perspective, maybe on ways we talk about contemporary politics.... and the power that comes with that.' — Rachel Maclean
Learn how Scottish video artist Rachel Maclean uses satire, and techniques borrowed from performance art, to deconstruct some of the myths behind national identity and expose absurdities in contemporary politics. She explores these themes through her works The Lion and the Unicorn (2012) and VR piece I'm Terribly Sorry (2018).
Time Period:
21st century
Themes:
Rachel Maclean (b.1987) is a Glasgow-based multi-media artist who has rapidly established herself as one of the most distinctive creative voices in the UK. Creating baroque, hyper-real worlds using performance, green-screen technology and computer animation, Maclean spins razor-sharp contemporary fables that deal in timeless themes such as sexuality, power, innocence and corruption. She makes glowing, hyper-saturated videos using green screen technology and computer animation. Producing all the costumes, make up and sets and playing all the characters herself, Maclean creates disturbing yet hilarious narratives that blend appropriated present day pop cultural material with a multitude of narrative references.
Recent exhibitions include Too Cute! Sweet is About to Get Sinister, curated by Rachel Maclean, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2019), Rachel Maclean: The Lion and The Unicorn, National Gallery, London (2018), Annual Commission, Zabludowicz Collection (2018), Spite Your Face in Chiesa Santa Caterina, Alchemy Film and Arts Scotland+Venice (2017), Wot u : - ) about?, HOME, Manchester and Tate Britain (2016), We Want Data!, Artpace San Antonio, Texas (2016), British Art Show 8 (2015), Ok, You've Had Your Fun, Casino Luxembourg (2015), Please, Sir..., Rowing, London (2014), The Weepers, Comar, Mull (2014) and Happy & Glorious, CCA, Glasgow (2014).
13:12
Rachel Maclean: Cutting Up the Canon of Art History
The male gaze, misogyny, porn. Rachel Maclean discusses issues surrounding female identity in the history of art as tackled in her film ‘Make Me Up’.
14:48
Penny Woolcock: Parallel Worlds
How can the arts help repair rifts in the community? Penny Woolcock speaks of her art of filmmaking that contributes towards real social change.
1:07
1 Minute 1 Work: Abstract No. 2
Barbican Curator Eleanor Nairne traces the rhythms of Lee Krasner’s ‘jewel-like’ painting.
13:12
The male gaze, misogyny, porn. Rachel Maclean discusses issues surrounding female identity in the history of art as tackled in her film ‘Make Me Up’.
14:48
How can the arts help repair rifts in the community? Penny Woolcock speaks of her art of filmmaking that contributes towards real social change.
1:07
Barbican Curator Eleanor Nairne traces the rhythms of Lee Krasner’s ‘jewel-like’ painting.
17:13
A spirited conversation between two friends, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and artist Etel Adnan.
6:41
Qabir Alli and Marianne Whiting — alumni of the Articulation Prize — discuss Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Family of Man’.
7:24
Liu Xiaodong discusses how conflict and urban change influenced his radical new painting method.