Megan Rooney, Animals on the bed

“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).