Galeria Pedro Cera is pleased to announce LL|EE, an exhibition by Rachel Foullon and Matt Keegan.
The guiding force of the pattern and template – both found and generated, along with the emphasis on a specific palette, emerge as clear connectors between the work of Rachel Foullon and Matt Keegan. Their handled, repurposed and tailored sculptures present their audience with wall-based Rorschachs that are specific in their manufacture but open-ended in their translation. Shared interests in the hybridity of the handmade and machined run throughout the exhibition.
In Foullon’s “Cruel Radiance” series, the artist “renovates” found pre-industrial farm tools with the addition of hand-dyed fabric and custom plated hardware. Drawing attention to their inherent geometry, she highlights their relationship to labor and the body. Having removed the tools’ value as functional implement or antique, Foullon locates boundaries between nostalgia and currency, high and low, body and machine, sacred and profane. Double Gate, 2015 is based on rural fencing designed for livestock management. The sculpture spans from floor to ceiling and can turn 360 degrees on its center axis. Installed here, it provides a fulcrum and animation for the wall-based works of both artists.
Keegan’s Lisbon Cutout sculptures, 2016 are a continuation of a recent series that start out as hand-cut paper forms then fabricated in laser-cut steel, folded on a brake press and powder-coated. The parenthetical titles (such as Traffic Red) come from the RAL colors applied to each work. RAL, an international color system, is used for domestic and industrial purposes. These color-coated shapes often illicit naming, a feature that interests Keegan and overlaps with his ongoing work with visual learning aids used to teach English as a Second Language. The artist’s mother created her own ESL flash cards over a fifteen-year period to teach high school and adult education students. Keegan was drawn to this collection because the images were treated as placeholders for language.
Rachel Foullon and Matt Keegan met in 2002 when they began their MFA studies at Columbia University. Upon graduating, they started a curatorial endeavor, Public-Holiday Projects. PHP organized three years of group shows at international artist-run and institutional venues including a significant exhibition with a companion publication at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
RACHEL FOULLON & MATT KEEGAN
LL | EE
May 19 – Jul 27, 2016
Galeria Pedro Cera
Rua do Patrocínio, 67 E
1350-229 Lisboa
Portugal
