Lucy McKenzie
Quodlibet XXXVIII
2014
Painting
Oil on canvas on board
60 x 120 cm
Acquired in 2016

On view in The M Lounge – The Pantry (basement level -1).

Lucy McKenzie’s Quodlibets are literary collages of “anything”. They are homages to objects that society might deem worthless, but McKenzie (b.1977) gives them attention. She has devoted her artistic research to design and industrial objects as well as posters, dress, sporting equipment and more. Her assembly of related pictures or objects on the board are carefully repainted so the viewer can hardly say from a distance if the artwork is a collage or a painting. This technique of creating illusionistic effects called trompe l’oeil (French for “deceives the eye”) is a traditional one in the history of painting. For McKenzie, the hidden, forgotten or not so popular parts of 19th and 20th century art and design history are the most precious and inspirational.