mergeemerge
A collaborative drawing project by Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 2016- 2021
This project began as purely visual conversation by way of a series of small drawings posted back and forth between two artists. What emerged from this silent contemplation is a grand expression of the convergences and divergences in the work of Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney.
Though their collaboration began in response to the shared similarities in their work, as it has evolved over 5 years, it’s the tensions arising from the differences in their approaches to drawing that have come to energize their work. The collaboration is an enquiry of drawing methodologies and the role of memory and improvisation within. Taking cues from patterns and forms of science and the natural world, they passed drawings back and forward, both of them adding a part drawing to each one sequentially. Their joint drawings grew organically until each one reached its conclusion. What has emerged from their combined memory, intuition and imagination are intertwined otherworlds…worlds which speak of looking closely, slowness, minutiae and connections.
This project has been funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Arts Council of Ireland, Wicklow County Council and supported by Mermaid Arts Centre, Co. Wicklow and Outpost Studios Residency Programme, Co. Wicklow. In 2022, there will be an accompanying publication with commissioned text by Dr. Doris Rohr and interview with Brian Fay.
210-6, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 24.5 x 29cm, graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 2018
204-6 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 21.5cm x 23.5cm, graphite pencil on paper, 2018
215-7, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 19 x 22cm, graphite pencil and ink on paper, 2018
214-10, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 20.5 x 20.5cm, graphite pencil on paper, 2018-2019
Concertina 3 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 20 x 145cm, graphite pencil and pastel on paper, 2018-2019
Concertina 3 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 20 x 145cm, graphite pencil and pastel on paper, 2018-2019
249-13 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 56 x 56cm, graphite pencil on paper, 2018-2019
238-19, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 56 x 56cm, graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 2018-2020
236-14 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 56 x 56cm, graphite pencil, watercolour and coloured pencil on paper, 2018-2020
327-3, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2018-2019
336-2, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2018
346-7, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2019
362-10, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 100 x 100cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2019- 2020
362-10 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 100 x 100cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2019- 2020
343-11, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2019- 2020
366-7, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2020
359-15, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 100 x 100cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2019- 2021
359-15 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 100 x 100cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2019- 2021
360-11 (detail), Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 100 x 100cm, encaustic and oil panel, 2019- 2021
344-11, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2019-2020
371-3, Michael Geddis and Joanna Kidney, 30 x 30cm, encaustic and oil on panel, 2020