Of Things yet to come

Mullholland's practice is primarily concerned with examining fragments of everyday life and making visible oppositional elements of urban existence. In these sculptural works she uses appropriated objects/materials - usually found in the construction industries - along with universal symbols (sun, tree etc), in order to investigate the tension between ‘dreams’, ‘fantasy’ and the realities of modern living.

Currently questioning how we solicit and produce spaces/places of retreat whether physical or psychological, her concern has been to make objects, which ‘operate between abstraction and artificial landscapes.’

Within the LSC exhibition Mullholand has reduced elements to their component parts to assemble a poetic configuration made from common mass produced materials, that cross-reference conflicting narratives of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’. A common thread in the works in the exhibition is the use of light and reflective surfaces to draw attention to the nature of transcience within the work and the interdependence between atmosphere, space and the effects of materials and form.

Mulholland’s Of things to come aims at a deliberate paradox between representation of ‘nature’ and materiality of the work. The kaleidoscopic screen effect is built up from numerous layers of amber perspex. The formal construction and quality of materials in the work exist in sharp contrast to the fleeting experience and effects of the ‘real’ moment to create this contradiction. The piece acts as a framing device, or filter which defines the space architecturally whilst exploring a tension between nostalgia and romance for nature and the constructed elements of sculptural pastiche.

Polycarbonate roof sheeting is revisited by Mulholland in Mirage, with the intention of creating an optically illusive work. A mirage is an optical phenomenon in which objects appear to be reflected or displaced or in which nonexistent objects seem to appear. They are often created from inverted reflections of distant objects and result from the distortion of light by alternate layers. The reflective quality of the transparent material offers the viewer a sensuous tactility hovering between abstraction and a subtle form of figuration. The installation focuses our attention on the interdependence between form, materials and light and as each element of the structure is strategically balanced, the piece demonstrates an inherent instability both visually and physically.

As a counter-point, Are we there yet? allows for different connotations to be read depending on the context of the communication and the piece reflects Mulholland’s interest in collective memory. Whether social, economic and/or personal the work becomes a reflection of universal hopes and aspirations, or simply an appropriate question to be put. The use of a billboard structure further adds to the notion of temporality of place and displacement and the changing effects within the work.

With an elemental sensibility to form and exploration of line, plane and volume Mulholland has created playful wall pieces, Untitled drawing 1 & 2, in which she is further investigating the transformative potential of ordinary construction materials.