Milford Galleries Dunedin18 Dowling Street Dunedin (03) 477 7727 info@milfordhouse.co.nz

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Mackinnon

NeverBeforeShades 15 October - 9 November 2011

Toni

1. TONI MACKINNON, Marina (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

2. TONI MACKINNON, Edna (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

3. TONI MACKINNON, Rakuko I (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

4. TONI MACKINNON, Hilma (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

5. TONI MACKINNON, Rakuko II (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

6. TONI MACKINNON, Kelly (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

7. TONI MACKINNON, Sonia (2011)

gouache & ink jet print on paper, frame (v x h x d): 868 x 643 x 60 mm, sheet (v x h): 710 x 500 mm

Toni Mackinnon takes the viewer back to “1965 when Faberge, capitalising on

the desire of women to create a bold new identity released its new brand of

‘Make-OP’! with its ‘never before shades’.”(1) The titles of the works explicitly

acknowledge leading Op Art artists by variously using their first or surnames. (2)

Mackinnon uses the optical effects of hard-edged black and white patterns that

appear to vibrate and change shape as the viewer watches and comes to

experience them. She establishes visual illusions through a varied process

involving “collaging hand-made and digital processes the photographs from a

variety of sources (such as Life magazine, photographic annuals and technical

manuals of the 1960’s) and these photographic images are then reworked in

gouache to introduce the found images from various Op Art artists.” (3)

Each work also openly acknowledges the major exhibition at MOMA, New York in

1965 entitled “The Responsive Eye”. Mackinnon’s adroit placement of eyes or lips

animates each work and also humanises them, eliciting from the viewer

experiences of participation and individualised identity.

Mackinnon uses white space in a radical way as a compositional device as well

as a colour in itself and in these ways what at first may seem visually simple or

restrained comes to achieve powerful resonances which build and reach well

beyond the original Op Art sources.

(1) Toni Mackinnon, Artist Statement, 5 October 2011

(2) Rakuko Naito, Marina Apollonio, Edna Andrade, Elsworth Kelly, Sonia Delaunay, Hilma Klimt.

(3) Toni Mackinnon, Artist Statement, 5 October 2011

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T

1 Marina (2011) 1,950

2 Edna (2011) 1,950

3 Rakuko I (2011) 1,950

4 Hilma (2011) 1,950

5 Rakuko II (2011) 1,950

6 Kelly (2011) 1,950

7 Sonia (2011) 1,950

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

Toni Mackinnon 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 1

TONI MACKINNON b. 1967, lives Auckland

Hilma (2011)

Toni Mackinnon uses optical effects, hard-edged black and white patterns, a collagic process and

numerous photographic sources as the basis of her work.

“Her works bring together imagery from print sources such as Time Life magazine and National Geographic

with delicately painted abstracts, reflecting both graphic design and fine art traditions.” In particular, her

work references Op Art explicitly while also further developing ideas of modern abstraction. Her work

employs a radical use of white space and builds visual tension by abrupt juxtaposition and contrast.

“Mackinnon uses reproductive processes at a number of levels in her practice. The found imagery which

retains much of its grainy character is digitally re-printed, placing emphasis on the formal qualities of

framing, colour and scale. Combined with these facsimiles are painted reinterpretations of works by

abstractionists, including Frank Stella, Bridget Riley, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In the process of

reproduction these historic modernist icons are reduced to motifs, retaining little of their emblematic

nature or authority.”

“The imagery in Mackinnon’s paintings is removed from its original context, negating any initial inferred

political, social or art historical significance and replacing it with a contemporary framework that attempts

to pull these disparate elements together. As the artist suggests ‘here modernism becomes a voice over,

reconstructing and mediating the narrative as it unfolds’.” (1)

Toni Mackinnon was born in 1967, lives in Auckland and teaches at Unitech. Recently exhibited at

University of Waikato. Winner in 2006 of James Wallace Postgraduate Award. 1998 Finalist Waikato Art

Awards.

(1) Karl Chitham, “Pushers” catalogue, Waikato University Gallery 2011

Toni Mackinnon 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 2

TONI MACKINNON b. 1967, lives Auckland

EDUCATION 2006 Masters of Art and Design (hons) Auckland University of Technology

1996 Diploma of Teaching, Auckland College of Education

1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Auckland University

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 'Never Before Shades’, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 ‘A Scope of Human Experience & Memory’, AUT Masters Graduate Exhibition

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 ‘Pushers’, Calder & Lawson Gallery, University of Waikato, Hamilton

2009 ‘It’s a Draw’, Group Exhibition, Artstation, Auckland

2008 ‘Overdrawn’, Group Exhibition, Artstation, Auckland

2007 ‘Tautoko’, Whakatane District Museum and Gallery

2006 ‘Taught’, Group Exhibition, Artstation, Auckland

2005 5th Year Masters Art and Design Student Exhibition

AWARDS

2006 Winner James Wallace Postgraduate Award

1998 Finalist Waikato Art Awards

Marina (2011)