Ghost in the Machine - a joint exhibition

I’m feeling both honoured and excited to be exhibiting alongside two very talented artists - painter Kaye McGarva and sculptor Ramon Robertson. I can’t wait to see the show come together!

Ghost in the Machine features three artists who work in different mediums but share an approach to making art that looks familiar, while at the same time demonstrating a sense of the peculiar or uncanny.

The exhibition opens Tuesday 10th January, and it runs until 9th February 2023. If you happen to be in Hawkes Bay on the right day please come along to the opening.

Some of my paintings in Ghost In The Machine

“Ghost In The Machine” is a group show by three artists, working in a variety of different mediums with a shared approach to making art that looks familiar, while at the same time demonstrating a sense of the peculiar and unknown. The goal of each artist is to intrigue the viewer, to draw them in so they might look more closely and engage in a meaningful way with the work. It is an invitation to embrace uncertainty and embark on an introspective journey of discovery. 
 
Auckland artist Ramon Robertson presents a variety of sculptural works, some figurative, others abstract. A few are an idiosyncratic combination of the two. There are references in some of Robertson’s work to the strange organic shapes of Kaye McGarva’s crease paintings. McGarva’s large shadowy canvases explore perception, disorientating the viewer by playing with the ambiguity of micro and macro views. Wellington artist Amanda Wilkinson’s linear small-scale works, on the other hand, are painted with deliberate and controlled precision. They are beautiful meditations on shadow and form that hint at architectural possibilities and hazy recollections of places and spaces, like a glitch in our visual memory bank.
 
The term “Ghost In The Machine” was first coined in the middle of last century by British philosopher Gilbert Ryle. He was critiquing the popular misconception that our minds are separate from our bodies. By challenging this theory Ryle, and others like him, hoped we would come to a better understanding of how we create our own reality and help us make sense of our world.

Edit: Exhibition images and review added below

Here’s a review of the exhibition:

Written and reviewed by Rosheen FitzGerald, and published in Hawke’s Bay Today.

The precise relationship between mind and body has been hotly debated by philosophers and explored by artists for centuries. Ryle coined the phrase ‘the ghost in the machine’ to highlight the absurdity of separating thought from physicality, the inner world from the outer. Koestler expanded the idea in his book of the same name, theorising that we are all simultaneously individuals as well as parts of the whole.

This complicated philosophical premise is the basis of a new and exciting show, at Muse Gallery until 9 February. Three artists spanning the length of the North Island each produced five vastly different individual works which nonetheless come together as a cohesive unit, conversing with one another, informing each others’ approaches and techniques.

Gallery owner, Kaye McGarva, shows large paintings, at once immediately recognisable yet dramatically different. Experimenting with her method, she uses angular sprays to produce pieces that invoke both crumpled fabric and topographical texture. In a pared back palette, these new works represent a departure for the artist, innovating and evolving to evoke a new softness, a renewed humanity. They hold a pleasing depth of emotion heretofore unseen in McGarva’s work, hinting at something rippling beneath the surface.

Wellington artist, Amanda Wilkinson, picks up the theme, speaking to light and shadow in works that are both tightly prescribed while hinting at chaos. Texture is present in her use of linen as medium, conversing with McGarva’s work. A strong architectural presence belie her fascination with form as well as her industrial design background.

These themes are expanded in Auckland based Scot and former architectural advisor, Ramon Roberston’s three dimensional works. Grounded on concrete plinths and cast in plaster, these somewhat disconcerting forms juxtapose the mechanics of construction with achingly vulnerable commentary on the human condition. Surface and Cloud Field Tiles were produced especially for this show, in response to McGarva’s work, continuing the conversation played out around the gallery in front of our eyes. 

This thoughtfully curated show, in keeping with the philosophy on which it is based, deserves to be viewed as a whole. Yet each piece retains its own voice creating a strange and beautiful chorus we can feel as well as see.

The exhibition catalogue is available on the Muse website, if you want to purchase online.

Ghost in the Machine
10th January - 9th February 2023

Muse Art Gallery
5 Havelock Road
Havelock North
Hawke’s Bay
New Zealand