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| 'Hey Eugene' 2011 Texta, acrylic and collage on paper. |
Working with a diverse range of materials including spray paint, ball point pen, Connector pens, lazer stickers, and cut-outs from her vast collection of 1970s books on indoor gardening, Minna Gilligan creates floating headspaces that equally jolt and reassure the viewer.
As a 20 year old living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, Minna is primarily concerned with the sporadic and corny flickers of hope that come in ever-changing forms like a McDonalds Happy Meal or Elvis Presley. Like beacons of light, these ridiculous things are the elusive and ephemeral pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Minna does not practice optimism however is interested in it as a concept that is fundamentally flawed, yet integral to our survival. Her Zine series 'Praying 4 U', is illustrative of this, with the title suggesting the difficultly one faces as an adult, attempting to be genuinely convinced and comforted by hope.
Aesthetically Minna favours the immediacy and awkwardness of a texta that's running out or a line that is unintentionally askew. Her work naively incorporates small scribbles of scathing text amongst big scribbles of paint and texta. Much of her work is inspired by her obsessions with celebrities, her hoarding tendencies and emotional attachments to pop songs.
Please visit http://www.minnagilligan.com
