Cecilia Danell
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For this exhibition, Danell continued her research into landscape and the built environment, using both as a metaphor for the human condition, with special focus on the aspects of psychology dealing with disengagement from the self. With an interest in the role of the unconscious, Danell undertook studies on the work of Carl Jung, with a particular emphasis on his theory of archetypes and how unresolved tensions manifest in behaviour. Through film, painting and mixed media, Danell explored these areas of interest, and as in previous works, reveals the process of making to the viewer as a means of citing internal thought processes.
The places and specific buildings in the works are sites from the artist’s childhood home in Sweden which she recently revisited. The large-scale painting entitled In the forest of the secret depths, depicts a pre-historic cave which is situated near her family farm. The cave has a curious tale woven into its history as it was allegedly used by thieves to store their ill-gotten bounty in the 19th century. For this purpose a flat stone was re-attached to the entrance of the cave where a sign now stands, erected by the local heritage society, retelling the story. Another painting entitled Solitude made easy, depicts a function room from one of Sweden’s oldest health spas. In the work, empty chairs sit expectantly in front of a wall-painting of a landscape. There is a prevailing sense of anticipation – waiting for the chairs to be occupied and for something to happen in the scene depicted. The setting is opulent and harkens back to a time when recreation and leisure, circa 1900, were carefully considered pursuits. It was also an era where societal roles and behaviours were strictly codified and rigorously adhered to. Curiously enough it was precisely this tightly vacuumed atmosphere as represented in this work which inspired the research into the role of the unconscious and its influence on the formation of character/identity. Danell’s empty function room raises questions about what is going on behind the scenes, alluding to former lives and the roles, habits and norms which construed the individual’s identity. The cave in the former painting reinforces themes of knowledge and self awareness, being a long-used metaphor for such, and these ideas are reinforced by Danell’s use of paint - thinly applied, the image seems to float on the surface of the canvas without a proper adherence to its support – is the artist conveying a sense that identity, self knowledge and memory are slippery things, constantly changing shape. The subject of identity is also explored in the film work entitled Mutare Animam. I the film a figure, who is clearly tormented, climbs and crawls through various landscapes. His identity is concealed as he wears a mask which you sense allows him the freedom to act on his baser instincts. The series of ink drawings which accompany the film also reveal a raw and unhindered energy as they are composed of rapid markings which drip and splatter towards the lower half of the picture plane. Much of the work in the exhibition reveals the materials and processes of making. Paint drips and eschews the image, leaving us in no doubt that the image Danell is presenting us with is a constructed one, maybe in a similar way as the image we present to others is constructed partly real and partly fabricated as a result of experience. Born in Sweden, Cecilia Danell graduated with a Degree in Fine Art in 2008 from GMIT, Galway and was awarded the AIB Paint Student of the Year. Since graduating Danell has had a solo exhibition in the Talbot Gallery, Dublin and participated in numerous group exhibitions both in Ireland and America. She was a recipient of an Arts Council Bursary Award in 2010 and an Arts Council Project Award in 2011. |