The Power Plant

Shelagh Keeley: Notes on Obsolescence

Shelagh Keeley

Past Exhibition

Sep 20 2014 – May 18 2015

Installation view of Shelagh Keeley, german notes after lucretius de rerum natura, 2013. Stadtisches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany. Photo- Shelagh Keeley.jpg

Installation view of Shelagh Keeley, german notes after lucretius de rerum natura, 2013. Stadtisches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany. Photo- Shelagh Keeley.jpg


CURATOR

Gaëtane Verna

The Power Plant is pleased to present a commissioned project by Toronto-based artist Shelagh Keeley.

In the late 1970s, Keeley began employing drawing as both a response to and exploration of Conceptual Art where the gesture of her hand and physicality of her body were integral to her mark making. As such, Keeley’s work involves a high degree of physical effort where the concrete resistance of the wall is juxtaposed with the fluidity of her hand and the extensions of her body. By working with the limits of the wall and the constraints of its architecture, Keeley defines a confined space within which she works within. These boundaries provide the artist with a counterpoint to the openness and improvisation of her physical action. More, the architecture coupled with her movement allows Keeley to re-think the space of her installation in relation to her body. Each of her wall drawings are created in situ, marking a moment in space and time when the work—a visual document of her movement—is created.

For her installation at The Power Plant, Keeley will create a new wall drawing that will envelop the clerestory walls. Her drawings on these grand canvases are the remnants of her corporeal action and articulate the moment and gestures of her body. Keeley’s drawings act as performative objects. They emerge from choreographed gestures as they relate to the limits and conditions of a bound space.

Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2014. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2014. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2014. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2014. Coutesy the artist. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Watch an Artist Talk with Shelagh Keeley

Fall 2014 Program Guide

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Winter 2015 Program Guide

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About the Artist


Shelagh Keeley

Shelagh Keeley is a multidisciplinary artist known for her massive site-specific wall drawings.

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