The concepts of the grotesque and hybridisation have always
piqued human interest. From the mythical gryphon - with its leonine
torso mated to the wings and head of an eagle - to science fiction
fantasies of android life, the fascination with otherworldly
creations runs a darker thread through the annals of human life. As
expected, these musings lend themselves to representation in
cultural media and we can track a certain history of art - from
Hieronymus Bosch through medieval bestiary to Patricia Piccinini -
that comments on our fascination with the weird and ungodly. Viewed
from this perspective, Emma McLellan's work is a contemporary
interpretation of an age-old fascination.
McLellan attended Auckland University's Elam School
of Fine Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in
Printmaking in 1993, before continuing on to compete a Masters of
Fine Arts in Painting in 2001. The result of her affinity for these
dual disciplines is a natural combination of the two that allows
her to build multiple layers of colour, pattern and image, all the
while seeking to conceal and reveal different elements of the
composition. McLellan combines her fascination with the grotesque,
the weird and the hybrid (drawn from an interest in the engraving
techniques that produced works of medieval bestiary) and her love
of the pattern, repetition and texture of
antique fabrics and wallpapers to create a gallery of
animorphism laid out as if it were as innocuous a thing as a
repeating wallpaper motif.
The effect of McLellan's approach to the repetition of
curiosities is to generate a "second-glance" interest, whereby the
sumptuousness of pattern draws the viewer into a closer examination
of subject matter. It is here that McLellan's work begins to draw
allusions on one level to print metaphors (replica, edition, copy)
and at a deeper level to the concept of mutation and its
introduction of newness, difference and diversity into a genetic
pool - a concept that is often viewed in a negative light and which
has lead to the pejorative connotations of the term 'mutant'. It is
this idea of difference that is both societally unacceptable yet
culturally fascinating and McLellan holds up her grotesque and
hybridised animals for inspection in the same manner as one would
inspect a museum oddity.
McLellan lives and works in Auckland. She lectures in
printmaking and is currently the Programme Leader for the Bachelor
of Visual Arts degree at Auckland University's Manukau School of
Visual Arts. McLellan's work has been exhibited as far afield as
France, Canada, Spain and Bulgaria and she continues to produce
work from her Auckland studio.