Christine Wylie – The Space Between Us
Works On Paper 2013 – 2018
March 24 – April 22nd 2018
The prints and drawings consisting this exhibition were conceived and made between 2013 and 2018, the time in which Wylie’s partner had been posted from the UK to RNZAF Whenuapai. Every year, from January to May, Wylie travelled from Edinburgh to Auckland to be with him. The posting ended in 2018 and her annual trips ceased.
Each of these works originated in Auckland; the prints processed and printed at Edinburgh Printmakers, and the drawings completed in NZ. The title of the exhibition reflected that the physical space between Edinburgh and Auckland, although initially daunting for her and her partner, in fact, led to a collaboration of ideas and processes resulting in a complete body of work.
Whilst grounded in the disciplines of drawing and painting, Christine Wylie’s formal investigation into the arrangement of monochromatic space has led her in recent years to concentrate almost exclusively on the study of printmaking.
From the outset, she conceived a body of work that comprised several series of varying size, in small editions. Employing a process-based methodology, her self-constructed geometric compositions result in images that suggest presence and absence, space and non-space.
To realise this, she photographs her compositions in natural sunlight and processes the images using polymer photogravure, which is able to render dark and light and all the shades of shadow in between, producing work that challenges the viewer’s expectations of what is matter and what is merely perceived.
The artist was trained at Edinburgh College of Art, where she gained a BA (Honours) in Drawing and Painting, followed by a MFA (Distinction) in Art, Space & Nature. She exhibits both in the UK and internationally and works extensively with academic institutions and artists’ societies.
In 2017, she had two solo shows – Geometries at GHAT, The Small Gallery, ARI, Aberdeen, and CAST at Kumeu Arts Centre, Kumeu. She has also exhibited as part of INK at Railway Street Studios, Auckland, The RSA Open Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh, The September Issue, The Sutton Gallery, ARI, Aberdeen, and at both Mairangi Bay Art Centre’s First Impressions 2017 Printmaking Exhibition and Kumeu Arts Centre’s Black + White Exhibition, both featuring in Auckland Artweek 2017. ANGUSalive’s Meffan Museum & Art Gallery Winter Exhibition 2017, The Meffan Institute, Forfar and most recently at The SSA & VAS Together 2018, at The Royal Scottish Academy, The Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh, from 29 January – 8 March 2018.
She lives and works in Edinburgh.