Rakel McMahon: NO PRETENDING

In NO PRETENDING is an exhibition of drawings and paintings made by Rakel during her stay in Greece this year, which refer to self-healing and fortune-telling. This quote from Marlene Dumas, the artist says describes the exhibition well.

Never mind if it is art, or smart,

But is it true?

True to what?

True to you, of course.

Text by Marlene Dumas, Always true, 1997

Rakel McMahon was born in 1983. She graduated with a BA degree in art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2008, a diploma degree in practical equality studies at the University of Iceland in 2009 and an M.Art.Ed in art education studies at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2014.

Rakel McMahon has held solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions as well as other cultural events in Iceland and abroad. Recent exhibitions include; Waiting Room in Harbinger, Ltd.'s Safari of Sorts. Ink Corporation in Glasgow, Scotland, Lax in Þulu  and Head to Head in Athens, Greece.

In addition, she has been involved in the establishment, planning and operation of exhibition projects and events in the field of culture and art. This includes a former board member of Sequences Art Festival and the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík. Rakel has also worked quite a lot in collaboration with other artists, the most notable being a stage piece with the poet Bergthóra Snæbjörnsdóttir under the name Wunderkind Collective and a collaboration with the visual artist Eva Ísleifs.

Rakel McMahon works in different media, e.g. drawing, painting, text work and performance that are often characterized by ambiguity, metaphor and humor. The subjects of the works more often than not revolve around human behavior, societal power structures and visual culture. The shared consciousness is at the fore in her work, where she strives to find a new perspective on the familiar, from soccer to airplane safety instructions.