Shelagh Keeley: In Vivo

Dates

May 1 - June 12, 1993

Curators

Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo

Exhibition

   In Vivo is a major exhibition of the drawings and objects of Shelagh Keeley, a Canadian born artist who has resided in the U.S.A. since 1984.

   Inspired by the physical body, Keeley's drawings were a dissection, excavation and archeology of the body as a vehicle to explore conceptual, formal, and intuitive considerations. She translated gestures of the body into a wide range of markings, unleashing a treasure of associations: primeval, sexual, organic, historical, archaeological. Her drawings were frequently referenced with texts or photographs. Using imagery with medical, sexual, and anatomic references, she fragmented, abstracted, abbreviated and removed these insinuations from our usual considerations of the body.

   Her ongoing series of books and works on paper reflects a private activity while at the same time she investigates a more public posture by drawing directly onto the surface of the walls of the exhibition site. The presentation includes drawings from 1985-1992 on paper and vellum, drawings on large pieces of sheet metal, a handmade book and sculptural objects.

Publication

   A catalog was published in Fall of 1994 with a major essay by Johanna Drucker, Assistant Professor of Art History at Columbia University, and documentary photographs of Keeley's work.

Exhibit Archive | 92-93 Calender