Megan Conley, “Assemblage,” March 27-May 2, 2015

Exhibit Catalog, Megan Conley, Assemblage

Conley’s work explores the construction of self and identity in a methodical, systematic way. Her work is based in personal experiences dealing with her own facial and dental deformity that required a decade-long correction process that is still ongoing. Through her art, she publicly reveals a private experience that was strongly influenced by societal pressures to conform to narrow constructs of acceptability, desirability, and beauty.

Conley began her creative process by exploring her own face through performance, disrupting and manipulating her appearance using toothpaste and petroleum jelly; materials used medicinally and cosmetically during her reconstruction process. Her movements left tracks in the residue, forming cartography of her own explorative actions and reactions. She recorded the performance, creating stills that she reused and reinterpreted repeatedly. The resulting images were distorted further, distilled into plastic and steel, and in some cases, photographed again. The reliance on technology to process and produce her “portraits” create another level of manipulation and abstraction. “I intentionally take myself out of everyday normalcy and transform myself into the grotesque.” The final result is the expansive multi-media installation that deals with both the topography of appearance and the multiple mappings of identity. “The mask is used to re-create the first half of my life, a memory that cannot be reversed back. Since the corrective process is permanent, this is the death mask of my grotesque identity.” Through her artwork, Conley controls the outcome of each process, revealing that which lays beneath her skin, both structurally and spiritually.

Meghan Conley is completing her Masters of Fine Arts and Emerging Practices at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction in Painting from Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary Canada. Conley has exhibited throughout Buffalo as well as in Enfield, Connecticut, and Toronto. In 2012, she participated in the School of Visual Art, Sculpture, Installation, and New Media Summer Residency, New York City, NY.

Press:
Joseph DiDomizio, “Megan Conley picks apart the notion of beauty in her art,” Buffalo News, Monday, June 29, 2015

Major exhibition Support:
Double Tree Club Hotel by Hilton Buffalo Downtown
Erie County Cultural Funding
M&T Bank
NYSCA Visual Arts Program
Additional Support:
Ashker’s Juice Bar
North American Breweries
City of Buffalo
Gates Circle Wine & Liquor
Individual donors