Constance Mallinson “Small Works” and “Still Lifes in Landscapes”

In her first solo exhibition since the acclaimed “Unmade” in 2017, Mallinson known for her epic scaled paintings of life sized accumulations of post-consumer found objects, changes course in a new series of small scaled but equally impactful paintings, some no larger than 6” square.Working on a small scale rather than the epic scale so favored in contemporary art, the artworks will have a greater accessibility with opportunities for a more intimate interaction –more akin to devotional objects – in which to contemplate the themes the artist engages..

The exhibition features a diverse group of small works composed from natural and manufactured detritus Mallinson has collected from the streets on her daily walks through her neighborhood and appropriated photographic landscapes. Furthering Mallinson’s interests in formal painterly inventiveness--evidenced by the constant play between abstraction and figuration --and the climate change crisis, a fantastical assortment of post-consumer items are deftly layered with depictions of endangered landscapes such as melting glaciers, Amazonian rainforest and its creatures, and coral reefs, to create landscape/ still life hybrids. Also on view in a Duchampian mode are a number of paintings based on “found abstractions”. The rich details, dazzling color, variety of objects and interplay of forms recall both 17th century Dutch still life painting and the historical pastoral landscape tradition. Mallinson references these traditions and their colonialist and exploitive associations while inviting comparisons to our current hyper consumerist world that is destroying valuable ecosystems and contributing to irreversible climate change. For example in Jungle Crossing and Party Decorations shiny mylar party decorations pulled from local trashbins hang down like seductive evil vines over a rendering of the notorious Darien Gap crossing in the Central American jungle, the implication being that while desperate migrants risk their lives, Americans party oblivious of the global impact we are creating through mindless and exploitive consumerism. Similarly, in Hot Pink Bunny in Greenland, a plastic Jeff Koons style balloon bunny sits atop a melting glacier dripping pink sweat into the ice floes. Works such as these suggest wealthy countries—and artists are part of the scheme-- are making and consuming expensive baubles while Rome burns. Past, present and future are evoked, prompting questions concerning the complexities and moral dilemmas of living in a techno- consumerist, disposable world as we simultaneously contribute to its demise. Post-apocalyptic, darkly humorous, critical and celebratory all at once, Mallinson’s images of shiny bright commodities and fragments thereof superimposed over lush but fragile landscapes situate viewers in a provocative endgame.