The exhibition at Leeds Gallery is a thought provoking retrospective of the work of Bruce McLean, looking back over work produced during a fifty year period.
The image above (Pose work of Plinths 1971) was my initial introduction to the artist as research for a project on line, space, and how humans interact with the linear. While McLean himself is often viewed as daring and mocking for this work, the attraction for me came from the humorous and unique ways in which the set space has been interacted with.
However, the ongoing exhibition focuses much more on McLean's drawn and painted mixed media pieces which really acted as an eye opener on the intertwining relationship between performance art, sculpture and drawing.
Changing Rooms 2013, was one of the series featured in the exhibition and particularly shows the contrast between McLean's early works and those of today. Changing Rooms itself is a new piece of live performance art that will take place in the gallery on the 8th May 2014, and the pencil, collage and photograph series act as an insight into the planning and mindset of the artist. Personally, these pieces are a lot more interesting to look at, as while technically simple, it is extremely insightful to see a visual representation of what can only start as an idea in the artists head. Instead of planning through the written word, McLean uses his art skills to further show an audience the process and thought behind his infamous live performance pieces.