Megan Rooney, Animals on the bed

3rd June to 23rd July and 7th to 17th September 2016

“She wasn’t really sure about his love life. No sex. Well yes but no. Laughing laughing laughing. Birds land on your shoulder. Killing time. Laying on the floor next to a stuffed animal. Letting your hair get greasy. Dying your hair. Ordering coke with ice. Living longer then you can afford.” – Megan Rooney, Last Days. Last Days. Last Days. 2015

Megan Rooney’s work is populated by soft, grotesque bodies performing rituals and lifestyle. Porcine faces and abject bodies are implied by painted lips and thick eyelashes, suggestions of a distorted femininity hide in mushy blue and pink environments. Her practice unfolds across painting and floating murals, written and spoken word, sculpture and installation, presenting the viewer with characters in recognisable social settings and awkward-moments. The paintings and objects in this exhibition are linked by a monologue, which produces an accumulation of imagery, short phrases depicting snatches of suburban life. Rooney marks the gallery space as foreign territory, contrasting physical and emotional states drift through, whilst bodies are beset by confrontation and pollution.

Megan Rooney is a Canadian artist based in London. Recent exhibitions include a solo presentation Piggy Piggy at Croy Nielsen, Berlin (2016), the group exhibition Natural Instincts at Les Urbaines, Lausanne (2015), a performance commissioned by Serpentine Galleries titled Last days. Last Days. Last Days. (2015) and the solo show Okie Dog on Santa Monica at Almanac Inn, Turin, (2015).

Megan Rooney CV

Installation view

Megan Rooney, Memorial park at sunset, 2016
Pastel, pencil, acrylic, oil pastel on canvas, 164 x 225 cm

Megan Rooney, It was dude perfect under the bridge, 2016
Pastel, pencil, acrylic, oil pastel on canvas, 157 x 225 cm

Megan Rooney, Papier-mâché head of a goddess, 2016
Acrylic, marker, ink, crayon, pencil, oil pastel on papier-mâché, cotton string

Megan Rooney, Hairless, rough and sensitive, 2016
Pencil, ink, pastel and acrylic paint on magazine pages in artist’s frame, 83 x 66 cm

Megan Rooney, Papier-mâché head of a goddess, 2016
Acrylic, marker, ink, crayon, pencil, oil pastel on papier-mâché, cotton string

Megan Rooney, Moons and salads, 2016
Mural on gallery wall

Having sex in a parking lot with the windows open LR

Megan Rooney, Having sex in a parking lot with the windows open, 2016
Pencil, ink, pastel & acrylic paint on magazine pages in artist’s frame, 83 x 66 cm

Megan Rooney, Moons and salads, 2016
Mural on gallery wall

Megan Rooney, Having sex in a parking lot with the windows open, 2016
Pencil, ink, pastel & acrylic paint on magazine pages in artist’s frame, 83 x 66 cm