Nomas* Projects / Art, Dundee

"Pastry Works"

Stephanie Mann: "Pasty Works"

Pasty works is an installation of two works graced by the presence of a pastry.

In the film Yum yum, 2014, the viewer is presented simultaneously with stage-set and back-stage throughout the construction of a careful mise-en-scène composed precariously on the artist's hand. The work shows objects, ready to collapse from momentary perfection and instate balance, as something fundamentally sculptural. The interplay between the canonising qualities of the still life genre in stage set, and the super saturate, ready-to-hand nature of the chosen balanced objects results in a heady salad of the synthetic and natural; classically refined and casual or throwaway, but none-the-less unstable. This instability brings potential for the chosen objects to act as idiosyncratic bedfellows: sea shells with Greggs 'yum yums' or a slinky with red plasticine.

Still Life with Pastry, 2013, features a painted still life and it's subject, photographed side by side. This three-stage process results in quick fire comparisons between the ‘original’ objects and the painted trompe-l'œil. These little movements of the mind, like the focusing of the eye, or a lens are tiny and precise, a delicate liaison between the real and unreal whilst viewing this gentle sprezzatura.

Artist Bio: Stephanie Mann's practice works across various media and is rooted in sculptural principles. Her work often features a physical engagement with or arrangement of a collection of self-made visual tropes, an act which disregards a natural hierarchy of objects to focus on their inherent qualities. Mann graduated with an MFA in Contemporary Art Practice at Edinburgh College of Art in 2013. Recently projects include I See I Don't See, Lewisham Arthouse, London; What do you think of the title 'Nothing Lasts', 37 Gallery, London; Tourist in Residence, Edinburgh Art Festival; SAY Award, CCA, Glasgow; Inherit this Mango, (solo) Summerhall, Edinburgh; The White Ring, (solo) Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; There is No Rewind, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh.

ARTIST'S TALK 12 October, 2-3.30pm, The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum, Albert Square, Dundee, DD1 1DA

nomasprojects.org in partnership with http://www.stephaniemann.org

Yum Yum from Stephanie Mann on Vimeo.