Two person show: Deborah Duffin and Mikey Cuddihy, at MOCA London. An installation of pre-made pieces responding to the space.
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Mikey Cuddihy and Deborah Duffin use very different materials and while Cuddihy’s painterly imagery leans more towards figuration than Duffin’s sculptural abstractions, conceptually both are working on the idea of small, daily, one might imagine hourly changes and the temporary nature of stability and of change.
Both artists are presenting a combination of new and previously exhibited works in an all new installation jointly conceived. Many of the works have been made in the artistic isolation all artists have been through over the recent Covid period, and those works reach out for an audience. The exhibition will be the first one for MOCA London since the total lockdown.
In an era where great change for women seemed solid, we have seen how temporary change can be, in Afghanistan as well as in America. Women and their hard fought rights are under attack again, and change we thought was foundational, is now seen for what it sadly is, temporary. Jefferson’s words ring out with more urgency that ever that “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.
Duffin says that ‘drawing is the essence of my work; I see drawing as an approach to the world - an attitude of mind rather than a specific activity’. She uses wire to draw in three dimensional space as much as Cuddihy uses paint and paper. Duffin often reworks pieces into new sculptures and installations as at MOCA. Change happens to these objects all the time, and they exist in temporary combinations speaking an abstract language that draws the viewer in, and hints at meanings just beyond our grasp. The viewer can attempt to connect the wires in their mind but as with the private language of twins, it disappears when interrogated. These works remind the viewer of Eva Hesse, who also made work from temporary materials which now are sadly decomposing on gallery walls.
