To the Limit

In Laura MacLean's latest untitled installation, the tarpaper-covered walls and concrete floor of the intimate space bear the dizzying signs of repeated bodily action, all recorded in off-white, unfired clay. Recalling Richard Long's splashed mud wall pieces, MacLean's more unruly circles and spirals, lusciously swirling in the depths of the matte black tarpaper, are the result of the artist positioning herself near the wall and moving her clay-coated hands in broad circles (think something like an upright snow angel). Additional hand prints along the top perimeter of the tarpaper seem to delineate the highest point the artist could reach, while a few trace marks indicate the use of some kind of unidentifiable tool. Sitting rather abjectly in the center of the space is a vessel-like object roughly built out of clay slabs, still bearing pockmarks where the artist had pinched off clay. The flurry of footprints circulating around the object further suggest an obsessive repetition of actions.

The use of a materials as a way of "recording" a repeated bodily action has its precedents in the 60's work of Paul McCarthy and Richard Serra, among others. Where MacLean's work begins to find its own voice is in the way it pits this sensibility against the connotations of her material, unfired clay. In past works, MacLean has revealed her consummate skill in working with porcelain, creating small, architectural abstractions filled with concise angles. In sharp contrast to her previous objects, this installation thrives on looseness and a calculated lack of control. The "preciousness" of the material is called into question, reminding us that after all, even the most refined porcelain objects essentially began as mud. Perhaps this is why MacLean chose to leave the lumpen, almost sad vessel on the floor: to link the wild ferocity of the marks on the wall back to the tradition of ceramics.

Just as she is outstretching her arms and testing the limits of her body, MacLean is testing the limits of her medium. How far can she go? MacLean is on the brink of something exciting, and one hopes that as her explorations continue, the work will further slip out from the shadow of its 60's predecessors and plunge into truly uncharted territory.