Untitled Document

A Hell of a Good Universe - The Artwork of Nancy Carrigan

	Five Cellos and a Tenor Ink on Paper (15" x 11 ") 2001 Click to Enlarge A free fantasia on music for cello, but this cello seems to have a person for each string to suggest that the listeners, the players, the instrument, the music and the space which contains the music are one living entity.

Salome and Herodias (The Mother of the Bride) Ink on Paper (15" x 11") 2001 Click to Enlarge A kind of free fantasia of line, form and symbols; mother and daughter, dreams and reflections of dreams, roses, wings and a dance of quasi-erotic, sinuous lines. Carrigan states this work (and “Five Cellos and a Tenor”) to be a free response to pieces of music she was listening to when she created the drawing. The work is also a virtuoso piece in that is virtually created out of a single shape, a flowing crescent like cell, which is transformed and varied to create almost every element in the drawing.

	Reading Lady Macbeth Acrylic (48" x 60") 1992 Click to Enlarge The character of Lady Macbeth may be seen to be reflected in a reader of the play, but the reader of the play may be a modern Lady Macbeth, as her bloody hand might indicate. This work may be seen as exploring various aspects of words; as thoughts of a fictional character, as Shakespeare’s reflection’s on an aspect of life, or demonstrating how words inhabit the connecting link between fiction and our own experience.

Paso Doble Acrylic Film Painting (48" x 36" across) 2003 Click to Enlarge The title means “Double Dance.” The bright red color suggests passion. Carrigan states that this work was inspired by "a dance in Spain where the man dominates, but a look at the signorina’s face might give him second thoughts." Nevertheless the dazzling virtuosity of the lines suggests some form of ecstasy is being played out, and that wild but elegant passions are creating a small hurricane of motion.

	And God said … Have dominion over every living thing … Deer Hide, Acrylic, Toys (16" molded globe) 1990 Click to Enlarge A great example of Carrigan’s wit. A furry, warm, cuddly globe, suggesting the friendly environment of the earth, is plowed and despoiled by toy earth movers and littered with miniature trash and garbage. There is new parking lot that does nothing but make room for the earth mover to plow away even more fur. This is from a series of ball-shaped sculptures which actually rock back and forth to suggest the fragility of the environment and how its balance can be precarious.

The Choreographer Dreams … #12 Mixed Media on Wood (73" high) 1984 Click to Enlarge A calm circus rider is perched on horse which rides on a base which holds geometric, robotic dancers moving swiftly through space. This work perhaps echoes themes of control and balance contrasting with the barely controlled forces of motion. The poetry of an artist’s vision is suggested to be a combination of balance and free flowing, exciting forces. The philosophy of Descartes meets the philosophy of Zen in this playful yet serious sculpture. (This work is matched with a large circus wagon, not shown.)


Belfast Two forms: Intaglio Print (6" x 9") 1995 Painting (48" x 32") 2003 Click to Enlarge This work (seen here in two incarnations, painting and print) is part of a series which uses the famous first paragraph of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was an age of wisdom, it was an age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity ... ”) In her series each sentence signifies a city which is torn by some form of strife. In this particular work, Belfast is chosen to address the theme of religious intolerance.

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