“I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters; I think that gives exactly what I want; humanity, humor, depth. The idea is that the caves shall connect, and each comes to daylight at the present moment.”  
Virginia Woolf

In ​Material Figures​, Grace Mattingly, Andras Nagy-Sandor, and Lindsey Jean McLean imagine unique and divergent approaches to figuration via material exploration. Grace uses ethereal, transparent layers of washy oil, Andras employs heavy marks of assorted wet and dry media, and Lindsey applies saturated dashes of watercolor and oil. The varied approaches culminate in characters that are felt as much as they are seen: some tangible, others ghostly, each emerging from their respective, metaphorical caves.

This material-focused approach comes out of a response by the artists to the disembodiment and instability generated by the coronavirus outbreak. With social distancing and self-isolation mandates, and after countless zoom meetings and video calls, the tactile physicality of material has been a grounding force in the work of all three of these artists over the past several months. Having had to relocate from school studios, each artist has worked with material study and the figure to be present with their sensory experience, and to engage with, respond to, and explore various psychological states.

Material Figures
25 - 30 August 2020

Grace Mattingly (MA 2020) 
Andras Nagy-Sandor (MFA 2021) 
Lindsey McLean (MFA 2020)