Kate McDonnell

‘Screw Up Repeat Lockdown Installations’

Creepy, ominous, entangled clouds of energy form McDonnell’s three-dimensional objects and environments. There’s a writhing restlessness and anxiety embodied in these nightmarish works.

Heaps of crushed tissue paper crawl up walls and over domestic objects. Black paper is twisted into tortured garlands. There’s a domesticity about the works. Clothes rails and household objects such as ironing boards and chairs become supports or are swamped by black creeping forms.

In her practice, ephemeral matter is rendered worthless by overworking and near-destructive actions. It’s a cycle of redacting, tearing, twisting, crushing and erasing – purposeless, laborious activities – underpinned by regret, shame and wasted time.

McDonnell’s practice is firmly rooted in process art and influenced by postminimalist artists such as Richard Serra and Eva Hesse.

McDonnell was a Porthleven Prize and SANE Creative Award winner, and won the 2021 Gilbert Bayes Award. She is a 2021 ArtConnect Artist to Watch and was shortlisted for the New Emergence Art Prize.

She studied at De Montfort University, Central St Martins and Bath Spa University.
Born in Birkenhead, Liverpool, she now lives and works in Bath, from a studio in her top floor flat overlooking the city.

katemcdonnell.co.uk
@katemcdonnellart

Screw Up Repeat Lockdown Installation, Kate McDonnell ©2020