OXALIS

 

 

"The days waves yellow with all its crops. The earth hangs heavy beneath me." - Virginia Wolf

 

Inspired by their last residency in the CCA Studios back in February 2017, the four artists Shane Bradford (UK), Benedikt Hipp (DE), Mary McDonnell (US) and Sissel Marie Tonn (DK) have now returned to Mallorca. During the past 21 days and nights they have created an extraordinary exhibition in the CCA Gallery.


Thematic connections within their works had previously seemed to pass (symbiotically) between the walls of the four studios, as well as seeping in from the local landscape outside. Ideas surrounding our cognitive relationship to environment – in this case, the unique topology of the space nested into the mountain of limestone that surrounds CCA – all relate to the complications of territory and belonging.

With their former knowledge of the local terroir, their intention was to return and build upon their shared experience to initiate a new dialogue by examining the intangible stratigraphic layers that live and breathe in and around the building, across time and space, in jolts and jumps. In other words, to collectively “map” the topography of CCA.


The idea of territorial domination has nevertheless changed, on a global and geopolitical scale within the two years gone by, and naturally also on a personal and individual level within the artistic practices of the four. Encountering conflicts between environmental, geological and political territories reflected upon the intimate territory of the self, has resulted in a powerful exhibition fueled by questions of relational tensions.


The title of the exhibition "Oxalis" is the name of the yellow flower blossoming all over Mallorca every year in February. The plant can be found in most parts of the world, but recently a sub-species was discovered in the Tramuntana mountains – biologists describe it as “an unusual isolated population of Oxalis”.


The visitors of "Oxalis" are invited to take part in an archeological journey into an environment where a variety of unclassified species dwell in different manmade nests. The space that used to be a gallery has now become a post-apocalyptic campsite inhabited by a multispecies of string figures animated from clay, fabric, textiles, stones, wood and locally obtained objects.


We warmly welcome you to a site-specific exhibition exploring themes of anthropology, mythology and science, created within only 3 weeks by Shane Bradford, Benedikt Hipp, Mary McDonnell and Sissel Marie Tonn, sprouting from the seeds, that were planted two years ago.

 

             Shane Bradford (UK)

 

 

Shane Bradford is born in 1971 has established a reputation for both painting and for ‘dipped’ objects that span painting and sculpture. He studied in Brighton and at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. He has exhibited widely in Britain, Europe and the USA and was awarded The Celeste Art Prize in 2007.

 

Benedikt Hipp (DE)

 

 

Benedikt Hipp topicality of his work is revealed in his intensive exploration of material and consciousness, and in the connection between post-humanist, socio-critical, cultic, and spiritual approaches. He lives and works in Amsterdam and Munich. 

 

 Mary McDonnell (US)

 

 

Mary McDonnell worked herself out of her Brooklyn loft. Needing space and ready for country life, she searched up- and downstate New York until she found the right piece of land on which to build. McDonnell now lives and works far enough from New York City to provide the solitude she requires for painting, yet close enough to permit frequent visits for gallery-going and social life.


Sissel Marie Tonn (DK) 



Sissel Marie Tonn is a Danish artist based in The Hague. She is the co-founder of the initiative Platform for Thought in Motion and she completed a master in Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2015. In 2016 she was the recipient of the Theodora Niemeijer prize for emerging female artists.