Dog Basket Baboon

Oliver MacDonald was the winner of Shape Arts Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2016, spending 3 months in residence at Turner Contemporary.

Dog Basket Baboon showcases a mix of old and new works by Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2016 winner Oliver MacDonald, many of which have been created during his recent residency at Turner Contemporary in Margate.

Spending time in the seaside town has clearly influenced his work, as the traditionally trained willow weaver reaches beyond his usual practice whilst maintaining a connection to craft through repeated motifs of rope, basketry and maritime makery.

The exhibition text contains brief references to his use of word play, multiple layers of interpretation and a mention of Goldilocks and the three bears, leaving lots for the viewer to decipher. The bear has scarpered into the corner of the room and is hiding under the shell of a yellow metal cover.

Colourfully painted zimmer frames form a merry go-round in Whirlie Wheelers, creating a sense of play but also commenting on usefulness or the expected use of objects made for a specific purpose. Why shouldn’t zimmer frames be yellow and used to spin us around at dizzying speeds, instead of their usual stablilising function?

But MacDonald’s use of ‘readymades’ is not the usual – with a background in craft, his choice of materials feels decisive. In another exhibition, ropes may appear like another found object, but here they have a new potency. A person has made this to facilitate an action, craft being the first step in that action.

Image: Oliver Macdonald’s Whirlie Wheelers.

About the Artist

Oliver MacDonald is a sculptor, predominantly working in the field of large scale works and installations. Trained in traditional crafts such as basket-weaving and wood carving, MacDonald’s practice is to collect visually interesting debris and create works by pairing them with modes of making.

"I appropriate discarded, disposable, and disparate ready-made objects and re-contextualise them to disrupt the preconceptions we hold about the potential of particular objects. Subsequently, questions around methods of making and their worth arise; which has more value, the physical skill of the artisan or the cerebral skill of the conceptualist? Who assigns the value?"

MacDonald’s work often incorporates children’s toys and other accoutrements that allude to innocence and simplicity. There is a mode of playfulness found in his arrangement of objects that seems to conflict with the seriousness of the issues dealt with. The word-play in the work’s titles is often a key aspect, used to draw attention to the pithy realism he aim to articulate. ‘Play’ has become a regular theme of MacDonald’s work as he is interested in the tension this creates when used to address darker, adult themes.

Twitter: @OliverMacArt