'When the World's on Fire'

A solo presentation of new work by artist Kevin McNamee-Tweed

Institute of Contemporary Art/ Chattanooga, TN

Aug 24-October 21, 2023

Kevin McNamee-Tweed’s practice investigates the mechanics of meaning-making and storytelling, and embraces broad material exploration to create images and objects that narrate, measure, or express nuances of human experience and material reality. While much of his work may be naturally situated within the context of image-making, painting, and drawing, McNamee-Tweed works extensively with clay. Incorporating native clays and regional traditions, the artist relies on time-honored as well as idiosyncratic uses of clay and glaze materials. He makes intimate, utilitarian objects and many things which situate themselves between categories, such as function-resistant objects, ceramic books, and wall-hanging pictorial ceramics, which have become his primary focus in recent years.

McNamee-Tweed's pictorial ceramics or 'ceramic paintings', employ meticulous techniques, controlled processes, and tempered experimentation to achieve image-based corporeality featuring exaggerated surfaces, textures and visual effects. Relating intimately to the hand and the eye, these book-sized objects carry a strong element of storytelling. Often with pathos and playfulness, his narratives include personal, mundane, or grandiose ruminations, while his stylistic tendencies and formal sensibilities span references from the art-historical to the commonplace. Frequently, his imagery reflects on traditions of image and object making, with particular emphasis on quotidian visual culture, the history of painting, and, the immense lineage of practical application and artistic expression with ceramics.

 "What is most satisfying about his work is that he has not lost his sense of wonderment.

All the glazed ceramic slabs are pictorial. While it is possible to tease out various groupings, such as still lifes or nature, doing so denies the pleasure of seeing all the different kinds of images the artist comes up with...I became immersed in enjoying the seamless combination of craftsmanship with offbeat humor, homages, and imagined situations. The fecundity of the artist's imagination is a pleasure in itself. Every piece is unique; he cares little for stylistic unity. There are no signature pieces.

By stepping away from that narrow sense of history, artists as varied as Brainard, Dilg, Lois Dodd, Thomas Nozkowski, and Richard Mayhew pursued idiosyncratic trajectories. It is in this distinguished company that McNamee-Tweed belongs."

 

-John Yau, Hyperallergic, 'Kevin McNamee-Tweed's Objects of Amazement' (July, 2023)