Megan Menzies : Glimpse

LKIF Gallery is very pleased to announce a solo exhibition of paintings by Megan Menzies(b.1995, London) titled Glimpse. This marks the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and her first in Asia.

In this new series of paintings, Menzies presents glimpses of moments and situations that have a developed sense of atmosphere and feeling. In a dreamlike manner, the paintings move between different spaces, from the train carriage to the sea, the surfaces of her paintings often depicting the translucency of a window or water.

Glimpse suggests something momentary and fleeting. ‘To catch a glimpse’ or ‘a glimpse in time’ are phrases that come to mind. In this series of paintings, Menzies always presents a partial, cropped view. A glimpse. The landscape rushing past the train window, partially shaded by a sun blind or the horizon of the sea glimpsed between the nape of a figures neck and their pony tail.

Depicting a close viewpoint in her paintings often leads to compositions that are allusive. Creating ambiguity of space is important to Menzies as she is interested more in depicting feeling rather than narrative. This cropped, close up perspective also creates a sense of intimacy between the audience and the paintings. Menzies never depicts whole scenes, but instead is sensitive to the small details within scenes that encapsulate a strong sense of feeling. The audience is encouraged to look closely and to use their own imagination, allowing them to build a relationship with the paintings rather than simply looking at a described scene.

“I’m interested in the act of looking and the different layers we bring to the experience of looking – memory, feeling, identity. By experimenting with form and technique, I strive to get closer to the emotional core of the dreamlike moments at the heart of my paintings.”

In many of the works in this exhibition Menzies creates a partition within the paintings using translucent washes of colour to depict water such as in Tank and Surface or to depict the gauzy, translucent fabric of a sun shade such is in Sunblind or Glimpse. The colour of the wash layer distorts the colours beneath in a similar way to how memory and feeling distort the way we tell stories. This wash layer also creates a horizon line in many of the paintings which enhances the distorted, surreal depiction of space.

The figures depicted in Megan’s paintings often tend to be blushing or sunburnt. In Tank and Sunblind we catch a glimpse of the figure’s red cheek tucked behind their arm. Megan connects the psychological experience of blushing with her practice of painting:

“In my paintings I often return to the motif of the blushing cheek to explore ideas of heightened sensitivity, emotional vulnerability and embarrassment. I’m interested in the psychology of the blush and its relationship with the practice of painting itself – both painting and blushing being complicated indications of feeling. While one is voluntary and the other not, I see both painting and blushing as strange and muddled forms of expression and think of each painting as a sort of blush”

(출처 = LKIF 갤러리)