Hatchings

Motivated by an initiative for original and disparate collaborations, Dialogues is a series of exhibitions commissioned by the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, and its most recent instalment at the Patriothall Gallery certainly fulfils this aim. Considering the inevitable potential for an incompatible display, the two differing aesthetics which make up this Easter-themed exhibit from Rachel Maclean and Karen Lyons form an unusual yet highly engaging stylistic synthesis. Focused around the changing identities of the egg, Hatchings encompasses contrasting notions of birth, life and death from two very different creative angles.

On entering the front gallery this difference is immediately apparent, as the organic forms of Lyons’s wax-heads is a sharp counter to the visual slap of Maclean’s imposing sculpture that seems to guard the entrance. Comically labelled "Eggsibit A", the latter is beautifully ridiculous through the candied sickliness of its artificial aesthetic, whilst its mutated forms and totem-like stature leave the viewer with a bittersweet unsettlement. Such paradox is common to Maclean’s work. Having exhibited prolifically throughout Scotland over the last year, her work is defined by its use of commercialised Disney-style material to form something monstrous, confronting the intense artificiality of contemporary pop culture.

This message is certainly reinforced by the accompanying film "Happy Easter", as the whining sounds of Lady Gaga echo through from the back room. Here, Maclean turns the traditional conception of fame on its head through a humorous parody of the singer herself. Utilising genuine excerpts of dialogue, Lady Gaga’s "obsession with fame" is undermined by the gyrating bodies of Maclean’s kitsch characters. The ‘hatching’ of fame is no longer an organic process, but one that is revealed to be contrived and carefully cultivated by the media.

In spite of the visual opposition between the two artists on show, the identically shaped wax heads that Lyons adorns with contorted shapes and visually unnerving materials such as human hair are aligned with Maclean’s work through their conception. Whereas in "Eggsibit A" and "Happy Easter" we witness a nauseating conglomeration of artificial forms and colours, Lyons’s wax sculptures utilise materials from nature. Coming from such conflicting material processes both sets of work are united by their fundamental aim to distort our perception through mutation and stunted growth. Despite their differing roots, both artists meet comfortably in the middle, offering an exceptionally balanced and visually stunning display.