Mark Garry
Nominated by: Nicola Lees
Born: 2-9-1972
Ireland
Lives/works: Ireland
Statement
Mark Garry Installation statement: I have a site specific installation practice concerned with devising methods that engage with, and navigate viewers through, physical spaces . These installations combine physical, visual, sensory and empathetic analogues, creating arrangements of elements that intersect the space and relate to the physical ergonomics of the space and each other. I use a range of natural and craft materials such as thread, beads, coloured paper, origami, plants, and a range of methodologies to dynamically transform these materials in such a way as to delicately intersect the space and to leave open the possibility of imaginative responses to the visual, spatial and associative interactions created by the materials. This practice is process driven and I am very interested in craft traditions and skilled workmanship and it is important to me that my work involves the stretching and consolidating of the physical capabilities of the materials I work with, both in isolation and when combined with other materials and objects. It is my desire that through my intervention one's perception of these materials is altered fundamentally from their utilitarian origins. I am very interested in a concept of experiential learning i.e. that one learns about and develops ones practice through engagement with materials directly in a quite instinctive way, and It is integral to this process that I spend long periods of time with these materials. Experimenting with the variety and scope of possibility that can be achieved through my engagement with a specific material. I find this particular type of endeavor worthwhile because it prioritizes a form of engagement where associations, while formal and structured, are not fixed; and rather than make finite statements I am interested in creating ethereal relationships where the opportunity is present to bring one's own associations and connections to bear on the elements that are presented. I place more emphasis on the possibilities of non linguistic forms of subjective subliminal perception and interaction. I want to enable situations where the relationship between metaphorical signifiers can never be defined simply. One of my concerns would be attempting to create interactions that circumvent obvious simple linguistic contextualization and definition as I feel this encourages a broader more diverse form of communication.
Recent Exhibitions (Download full CV here)
06 Gallery 2 The Paradise . Douglas Hyde Gallery,Dublin 06 Making and finding.The foundation to life,New York ,USA (curated by Cathy Siegel.) 06 Glass box ,Paris 06 Ireland at Venice,Lewis Glucksman Gallery,Cork 05 Venice Biennial,Scuola di San Pasquale,Venice.(Representing the Republic of Ireland)
