Rand/Goop
Mary Reid Kelley & Patrick Kelley
5 July – 6 October 2019
Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley present Rand/Goop, a new large–scale installation at Studio
Voltaire.
In Rand/Goop, the artists have created a circular narrative for six totemic video sculptures. The protagonists, all performed by Reid Kelley, speak in pithy and often capricious four–line cento poems. The contents are drawn entirely from two sources. Appraisals of Russian–American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand’s ‘Objectivism’ philosophies – limited only to evangelist scholars of her work – are spliced with titles of articles listed on the website of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle, beauty and wellness brand Goop.
Whilst these subjects are seemingly unconnected, Rand’s espousals of individualism or the virtues of ‘selfishness’ soon begin to resonate with the purchasable wellness offered by Goop. ‘Self–care’ becomes the relentless pursuit of personal betterment, sold as ‘10 ways’ to do better, to perform harder. Correspondingly, the artists’ characters speak in anxious, blustery palimpsests that swerve between implied emancipation and fear: ‘Let’s talk about a girls–only/ Libertarian alternative/ Where no innocence exists/ Without material property’.
The artists’ expansive practice collaboratively combines painting, performance and poetry. Their elaborate monochrome sets are highly stylized, making use of disorienting trompe l’oeil backdrops and models. Their works subvert and burlesque specific historical and mythological narratives. Often set during moments of political or social turbulence, the artists give voice to characters who have slipped through canonical accounts, to meditate on mortality, gender and sex.
This is the artists first institutional exhibition in London, and follows a month–long residency at Studio Voltaire.
Rand/Goop is commissioned and produced by Studio Voltaire. Commissioned in association with Forma Arts & Media Limited.
Exhibition Supporters: Pilar Corrias Gallery, Forma Arts & Media Limited, and Henry Moore Foundation.
With kind support from: Harvey Sawkin, Miyoung E Lee, Herb Levitt, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Bruce Menin, and Fredericks & Freiser.
—Many thanks to Studio Voltaire for the invitation to collaborate on this commission.
Mary Reid Kelley & Patrick Kelley, Rand/Goop, 2019, detail. A Studio Voltaire exhibition commissioned in collaboration with Forma. Courtesy of the artists; Pilar Corrias, London; Fredericks Freiser, New York and Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects..
Mary Reid Kelley And Patrick Kelley, Ayn Rand, 2019. Courtesy of the artists; Pilar Corrias Gallery, London; Fredericks Freiser, New York and Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects.
About the Artists
Mary Reid Kelley (b. USA, 1979) received her BFA from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, and an MFA in Painting from Yale University in 2009. She is the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Grant, has received awards from the American Academy in Rome, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and the Guggenheim Fellowship.
Patrick Kelley (b. USA, 1969) earned a BFA from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. His works have been exhibited at the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information–Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley have collaborated since 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include: Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley – We Are Ghosts, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2017); Mary Reid Kelley, MUDAM Luxembourg (2017); We’re Wallowing Here In Your Disco Tent, The High Line, New York (2016); Mary Reid Kelley, M – Museum Leuven, Leuven (2016); A Marquee Piece of Sod – The WWI Films of Mary Reid Kelley, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (2016); Hammer Projects: Mary Reid Kelley, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015); Swinburne’s Pasiphae, Pilar Corrias, London (2014); Mary Reid Kelley, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna (2014); and Mary Reid Kelley, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA), Boston (2013).
—