'Often it's the last thing I do before leaving the studio that's the best thing – sometimes the only thing. It's a last desperate crazy act almost – or is it? Last night it was the skirt. I'd been eyeing up a lumbering piece of paper with painting residue and doodles – some figures, names and notes; splattered outlines from templates: blue, red, black; some tested watery brush marks. It was calling out to be a clumsy skirt. Buff–coloured sugar paper, which I first attached – clumsily to pink tape, and dismantled because not quite right, then put together again....
"Often it's the last thing I do before leaving the studio that's the best thing – sometimes the only thing. It's a last desperate crazy act almost – or is it? Last night it was the skirt. I'd been eyeing up a lumbering piece of paper with painting residue and doodles – some figures, names and notes; splattered outlines from templates: blue, red, black; some tested watery brush marks. It was calling out to be a clumsy skirt. Buff–coloured sugar paper, which I first attached – clumsily to pink tape, and dismantled because not quite right, then put together again. Then for good measure the gathers were stapled onto the tape. I love it. It's fabulous and ridiculous. It was the same – similar with the padded paper shapes a couple of years ago. The first one – a crazy last ditch effort – trying out a hunch! And then, eureka!"
Domo Baal is proud to present 'Broadsheet', Mikey Cuddihy's first solo exhibition in twenty years. Her last solo show 'James in Limbo, Recent Paintings' was at PEER in 2003, accompanied by a publication with an essay 'Décor and Decorum' by Sally O'Reilly.
And what's the work about? Mikey Cuddihy's work sits at an intersection between the political and the decorative, she begins with drawing – exploring aspects of intimacy and the body through linear, biomorphic forms, which she transcribes into paintings, motifs and assemblages, using paper – plain and painted, alongside text and imagery from the newspaper (usually pink pages from the FT) which are cut, stapled, pleated, gathered and embellished. Some works become characters or entities in their own right, often with a playful, sexual ambiguity to them. Some works are three dimensional, referencing clothing or objects: pillows, skirts and fans. Individual works are sometimes arranged together in groups, on a mantelpiece, the floor or the wall, often using domestic props, to elevate and display.
