Exhibition dates: Wed 5 May - Sun 16 May, 2021
Solo Show
Dancing Backwards on Velour Velvet
Raisa McLean
Raisa is a multidisciplinary artist, interested in creating works that evoke a sense of wonder and confusion in her viewers. She works broadly across many mediums however predominantly uses video/photo, audio, clay, textiles, wire and found objects.
Currently her work surrounds the interactions of femininity with nature and the collide of sexism and feminism in the concept of "compulsory heterosexuality".
She explores her own lived experience of femme queerness and the unattainable seductress character in her highly journalistic practice. Raisa strives to create immersive and affective works that are accessible and meaningful to both a fine arts audience and the general public. Raisa's art practice began in high school, exhibiting in galleries since she was 15, she is now extending her practice at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne and her studio in Northcote.
Dancing with seduction and what it means to be a woman, Raisa Mclean’s second solo exhibition “dancing backwards on velour velvet” is tender and rough around the edges.
The works walk a fine line between earnestness and falseness, saturated in rosé and red wine - the final dregs of a night out, a pink fake nail left on the coffee table. As part of the main installation, dancers Chiharu Valentino, Ryu Bautista and Mara Galagher have been commissioned to perform in sculptural costumes on four days. The incorporation of dance into Raisa’s art practice has been long in the making, with much of her text-based works making references to dance and movement of the body. The exhibition will also contain a variety of ceramics, wire-based works and projected video works.
