Member, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, & Transplantation Theme (I3T)
Images of paintings courtesy the artist and Bortolami, New York.Assistant Professor, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, The dance between Keogh’s strong lines and lively colors and Coleman’s ethereal words plays out as much as we allow it, drawing us deeper into their twin headspace. Perhaps even more time in the gallery would have awarded a clearer outcome, but it is very apparent we are just listening in. Walking around the room, bouncing from the laminated copy of the poem to a painting to a text work, Keogh and Coleman’s conversation takes hazy shape. Taken together, the works, like topics in a discussion, constantly direct attention to each other or something outside of themselves through partial reference-like when a phrase or word reminds one of an anecdote that then steers the story in a different direction. Yet, Keogh’s visual style retains a level of ingenuity as it reinterprets imagery familiar to many.Ĭoleman and De Blois’s gallery talk made clear that Blank Melody is very much an internalized experience-Coleman chose not to read the poem aloud, instead inviting visitors to sit with the words in front of them. Surrealism - particularly its characteristic dream-like and otherworldly nature - is also a noticeable influence in Blank Melody. The flattened feminine forms fold, wind, twirl and entangle themselves around each other.
In others, such as Blank Melody, Cloak (2018) or Blank Melody, Old Wall (2018), Keogh depicts grey-hued, severed limbs weaving through fabric or emerging through barriers, seemingly cracked as if they once belonged to a Greco-Roman statue. In some, such as Blank Melody, Limbs (2018), the muse appears to be a mannequin. None of the female forms depicted are whole. Keogh playfully undercuts any overt symbols of femininity with the inclusion of a slug or “tear” in the canvas. The hyper-realistic marbles and pearls float on top of the canvas, as if almost on another dimension, providing the sense that these elements are related but not entirely in sync. She pairs these references with imagery of slippers, pearls, ribbons. Keogh appears well-versed in the history of European art, referencing the design of illuminated manuscripts or Anglo-Saxon art in paintings such as Blank Melody, Helmet and Blank Melody, Old Wall (both 2018). Reading the laminated copies of the poem around the gallery help in deciphering visual elements, but writer and illustrator leave much room for interpretation. Blank Melody, Cloaked Figure and Blank Melody, Tears, Shoes (both 2018), for example, incorporate a figure and shoes that seem familiar for those who raised on classic fairy tales or the Brothers Grimm. It is unsurprising that another source of inspiration for Keogh (in keeping with the theme of a union of word and image) is twentieth-century children’s books. It is difficult to walk away with one coherent understanding - rather, the experience of immersing oneself in the show is dreamlike, like stumbling into a wonderland. Keogh’s paintings invite us into a version of her world that references art history, fashion, popular culture. Space is made for us to study the elements and attempt to put a narrative together.īlank Melody, Tears, Shoes, 2018 Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 63 inches Blank Melody presents opportunities for the viewer to slow down and take a seat. De Blois noted in the gallery talk that in bringing poetry into this gallery setting, he and the rest of the team considered the idea of being able to “read” the exhibition like a book. Fragments of Coleman’s poem, displayed as text cut from paper and mounted on mirror, interrupt the flow from painting to painting, offering us a moment to review the words and see ourselves looking. Benches made by Keogh and Graham Anderson populate the room - more than one would usually encounter in a museum or gallery. The space actively invites visitors to stop and look closely. Keogh then developed new paintings and text-based work for Blank Melody from Coleman’s interpretive poem. Immersed in Keogh’s work, Coleman crafted a poem that united Keogh’s visual language with her own voice. In a recent gallery talk, Coleman explained that she wrote Blank Melody (the poem) using Keogh’s paintings for the book Headless Woman with Parrot as visual cues. Wall text makes us aware that this exhibition is “dialogic in form.” The notion of interchange and dialogue between two or more entities seems to be a theme woven through both process and product-the works seem to reference each other, one phrase pointing to an element in a painting and vice versa.