13/01/2025
Megan Rooney’s work Night Folly (2024) is part of the exhibition Motion in Stillness: Dance and the Human Body in Movement at the Victoria Miro Gallery until 18 January 2025
“‘I weld paint in order to try and bring us back inside of our bodies,’ Rooney explains of her uniquely physical approach to making a painting. Jogging daily to her studio to summon the energy she needs, she moves her body constantly around the canvas as she works – shuffling, reaching, crawling, bending – the result of which is a paint surface made up of huge variety of different marks. The energy of this surface is palpable, disorientating and compelling. Rooney describes herself as ‘a construction worker’, building up layers of paint over a long period of time only to ‘excavate’ (sand it off), when the rhythm of the painting requires. Colour becomes her ‘collaborator’, punctuating and articulating the canvas like a musical rhythm. The present work is one of Rooney’s so-called ‘wingspan paintings’, the canvas measurements cut according to the wingspan of an average woman.
Rooney, who danced herself, frequently presents her work alongside dance that has been choreographed in response to it. The titles of her works reference memories of place or times of day and the palette always responds to the season in which the work was made. The bluey green undertones of this painting echo the darker days of January, when this painting began its life. Describing it as one of her ‘night paintings’, Rooney adds small touches of intense pink and yellow paint that suggest city lights emerging from the velvety darkness.”
The exhibition also features works by María Berrío, Karon Davis, Rachel Kneebone, Kylie Manning, France-Lise McGurn, Florence Peake, Paula Rego and Xiyao Wang. Make sure to catch it before it closes this weekend!
