Kate MccGwire

 

Relevance to my work:

MccGwire has used the symbol of the magpie to represent consumerism and death within her work. This is similar to my experimentation with the symbolism of other animals within my work, for example the goldfinch and the fly.

 

 

"Kate MccGwire’s work reveals the beauty inherent in duality. Her materials tend to be organic and ordinary, things that others disregard but which are capable of embodying the paradoxes that define everyday experience. Most of us would ignore the random feather that we come across on a walk; afraid it might be a carrier of disease. Instead, MccGwire painstakingly collects them in their thousands. The fact that they might be diseased is part of their appeal. She relishes the fact that her materials are able to repel and seduce in equal measure. In her hands the feathers metamorphose into something unexpectedly beautiful and out of this world."

 

ALL VISUAL ARTS. (2011).Vanitas: The Transience of Earthly Pleasures. All Visual Arts: London.