This spring, Christina Mackie unveils a new three-part installation inspired by her interest in pigments and colour. Located in the dramatic Duveen Galleries at the heart of Tate Britain, Mackie fills half of the exhibition space with 12-metre-high dipped silk nets suspended above pans of semi-crystalised dye, to create an ethereal installation. These are shown together with a free-standing sculpture and a plinth displaying chunks of raw glass.
Mackie uses a range of media, but colour and perception remain central to her work. In the Tate Britain Commission 2015, Mackie develops ideas set out in previous projects. The solidity of the building and sculpture contrasts the fluidity of paint, while the nets are kept in a permanent state of flux by the changing light and colour in the Duveen Galleries.
During her thirty-five year career, Mackie has produced a wide and varied body of work. Notably, in 2007, she made The Large Huts for the lawn outside Tate Britain where her customary process of slow assemblage was exchanged for carving, sculpting and moulding. More recent exhibitions include Praxes, Berlin (2014), Colour drop, The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2014), Painting the Weights (2012) at Chisenhale Gallery in London and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. These installations featured 3D computer generated objects, watercolours, photographs, and ceramics as well as found materials. The installation highlighted Mackie’s ongoing fascination with natural and man-made materials, as well as the attention to process that runs through her work.
