How far do you equate the process of getting dressed in the morning with the construction of your identity? For American artist Caitlin Keogh, the parallels are overwhelming; she sees the performativity of identity in tasks both internal and external, as a new exhibition entitled Loose Ankles at Bortolami Gallery gallery demonstrates.
When it comes to mapping these concepts onto canvas, Keogh’s approach is satisfyingly two-dimensional, not to mention slightly sinister; animated mannequins are bound with ropes and armour, or dotted with the female hormonal glands, or vessels for sludgy-looking anonymous creatures which coil up inside their hollow forms. Elsewhere in the exhibition, the well-referenced fashion bible Dior by Dior: The Autobiography of Christian Dior resonates eerily through numerous works; one large canvas depicts the book in Keogh’s trademark flat state tumbling endlessly through space, while quotes taken from it drift through neighbouring pieces.
All of which combine to elucidate Keogh’s “depiction, dissection and dissemination of the performative construction of the self,” to paraphrase the gallery. “Keogh posits that painting could describe an unraveling or tangling of a fixed self, gender, body, or historical paradigm instead of conforming one. The work connects to the feminine idea of the construction of self and uses the performance of gender as an allegory for personal feelings about art history and painting.” Conceptually sound and aesthetically beguiling, Keogh's work is difficult to resist.
Caitlin Keogh: Loose Ankles runs from September 8 until October 29, 2016 at Bortolami Gallery, New York City.
