Majella Clancy / Matter Out of Place

Curated by Dr. Louise Wallace

Exhibition Opening: Thursday 6th March, 6-8pm

Matter Out of Place takes its title from Lauren Elkin’s recent book Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art in which Elkin describes the female body as ‘always matter out of place’[1] through its refusal to conform and be brought into line by perceived notions of femininity. This exhibition brings together ideas around the gendered body, its relationship to motherhood and material making. Clancy draws from life, building up a lexicon of experiential references which are then foregrounded through her painting and printmaking practice.  The work is rooted in the language of abstract expressionism as a space of painting that holds potential for autonomy and agency while also interrupting, disrupting, and challenging ideas of fixity.  Paper stencils integral to the making of her screenprints are reused as collage within the paintings. Here Clancy brings together painting and printmaking on one surface creating language which is ambiguous, tactile and slippery, where an expansion lives in the gendered, embodied mark. This fluid space of painting speaks to an out-of-place-ness and is at times unruly, untidy and unpredictable.



[1] Elkin, Lauren.’ Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art’, Chatto & Windus, London, 2023, p.40

 
Image: Simon Mills

Image: Simon Mills

How The Image Echoes (Part 2),

Ulster University Gallery, February 2020

An exhibition with and about painting, curated by Dougal McKenzie and Louise Wallace. Artists: Majella Clancy, Susan Connolly, Cherie Driver, Joy Gerrard, Christopher Hanlon, Paddy McCann, Dougal McKenzie and Louise Wallace

Image: Simon Mills

Image: Simon Mills

How The Image Echoes (Part 1)

PS2, Belfast, 16 - 21 September 2019

Brian Bishop, Majella Clancy, Susan Connolly, Joy Gerrard, Christopher Hanlon, Paddy McCann, Dougal McKenzie and Louise Wallace

Featuring works by Brian Bishop, Majella Clancy, Susan Connolly, Joy Gerrard, Christopher Hanlon, Paddy McCann, Dougal McKenzie and Louise Wallace, this exhibition seeks to address the ways in which the artists’ works may be considered within our wider ‘image culture’ today.

The digital world of the camera, the screen, social media and the internet have, in less than two decades, created immeasurable numbers of images across new platforms. This exhibition seeks to raise the questions: What constitutes ‘an image’ when making art, and what, if anything, makes this different from the other multifarious ways of delivering images as outlined above?

Image: BPW

Image: BPW

Belfast Print Workshop: Multi Matrix: Printmaking Symposium

Friday 13th March, 2020 The MAC, belfast

The common definition of matrix is ‘the cultural, social, or political environment in which something develops’. In printmaking ‘matrix’ refers to the source - plate, stone, screen.. from which the image originates - each process lends unique characteristics to the final product. Increasingly, the environment for art-making is cross disciplinary, combining mediums, techniques and influences. There is a need for artists, arts organisations and educational institutions alike to utilise a range of skills and services to remain sustainable and diversify income sources. The symposium will respond to this need by offering: 

  • Fresh perspectives for approaching print from other areas of artist practice

  • Inspiration for applying print within education and well-being

  • Sharing of ‘best practice’ experience for finding a market for artwork and related skills