MCKENNA DOHERTY
Artist Statement
SKILLS
Illustration
Sculpture
Writing
Graphic Design
Racquetball
Motion Graphics
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In my current work, titled Colorized (2022), I aim to bend the limits of time and material through the manipulation of family photographs. Altering a sense of reality in my work—through scale, color, and subject matter—speaks to my interests in memory and perception. My pieces incorporating polymer clay and my family photo album complicate the notion of recollection; the addition of a magenta, polka-dotted sweater or a miniature hamster tube extending from the surface of a photograph creates a dialogue between past and present, real and surreal.
Much of my art, in its pure absurdity, explores excessiveness. I hope to conjure whimsy and the sublime within my practice and evoke a visceral glee and curiosity within my audience. Deriving influence from my personal struggles with derealization, detachment, and anxiety, my work magnifies the physical presence of a space. I simultaneously lean into the surreal while pushing back against a feeling of complete dislocation. Thus, many of my pieces draw from exoskeletons and other organic forms, and I frequently mix natural and synthetic elements.
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The art I produce often gains its own sense of character and personality. I embed a degree of autonomy within my installations, and components of the work—tentacles, tubes, and the like—begin to creep into the gallery space. I create art with a life beyond my hand.