KYLIE MCCONNELL

JUNE 3 - 24, 2022

My practice relies on a feedback loop in which my studio is my playroom, affording my work the freedom to multiply – one thing always informs another. The cyclical nature of displacing and reintroducing moments within my studio is driven by intuitive making, resulting in marks, colors, and moments that are reminiscent of past investigations.

Rooted in experimentation and committed to the practice of play, these works exist in the expanded field of painting. I often use photographic material as a point of departure for my constructed paintings and assemblages. The acts of collage, construction, and editing, are the center around which the work revolves. By using image scanners, I am able to capture materials in high resolution while abstracting the material through misuse and abbreviation. Imagery gets printed and cut back into, painted on top of, scanned, shifted in size, edited through software, and printed again. Exchanges between 2D and 3D forms create an artificial depth that blurs the distinction of the “artists hand.” Closer examination reveals unexpected tactile qualities and shifts between mediums. Analog and digital marks work in unison, denying hierarchy between the two.

Unapologetically playful color combinations, use of holographic materials, and pattern mixing are visually reminiscent of early 2000’s fashion and pop culture. That same desire towards a particular kind of coolness is echoed throughout the work. My commitment to play and exploration aims to elicit an interaction of both pleasure and humor for the viewer.

ARTIST BIO

Kylie McConnell is a visual artist and maker based in Kansas City, MO. McConnell received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute (2018). Rooted in experimentation and committed to the practice of play, her works exist in the expanded field of painting. McConnell’s mixed media works are concerned with themes of repetition, collage-as-process, and self-recycling studio systems.