Eileen MacArthur

Home: Arthur, Ontario
Title: Kelly
Media: Oil on canvas / huile sur toile
Dimensions: 91.5 x 61 cm
Website: www.eileenmacarthur.com

In my recent work I incorporate references to seminal works from art history. These references are often overt, and sometimes subtle. In Kelly, The tilt of the head and open pose is an allusion to the female bar attendant in Edouard Manet’s The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres. In Manet’s painting there are two portraits of the same female subject. The first looks out of the painting at the viewer, and the second is her reflection in a mirror. The dual portrait allows the subject to appear at the same time both engaged and disinterested. In Kelly I endeavoured to represent this duality in a single subject. Her expression is one of being lost in thought as she looks out of the painting and past the viewer. It is not clear what she is feeling and it is difficult to discern if she is about to smile or frown. Kelly is at the end of her shift at a pub and she appears tired and drained. She has an expression on her face that is not satisfied or resigned, not engaged or dismissive, not interested or bored. Kelly’s expression seems to accept the banal and expect the unremarkable.

EDUCATION:
2005 MFA University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
2003 BFA Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2005 Eileen MacArthur, Propeller Centre for the Arts, Toronto, ON
2005 Pieces Missing. MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, ON
2003 Paintings, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2011 [three_fourthXX/5 Invitational Biennial, ]Fisch Haus, Wichita, Kansas[/three_fourth]
2009 Biennial Some Kind of Wonderful, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, ON
2008 Transactions: 11 Canadian Artists, Chongqing Art Museum (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute), China

AWARDS:
2005 University of Guelph Access Bursary
2003 Board of Graduate Studies Research Scholarship, Guelph, Ontario
2002 Endowment Fund Scholarship, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

EMPLOYMENT:
2008-2011 Studio Instructor – Elora Centre for the Arts, Elora, ON
2007-2011 Collections Management Assistant – MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
2006-2011 Studio Instructor – Guelph School of Art, Guelph, ON

OTHER INFORMATION:
2009 Special Mention, Kingston Prize for Canadian Portraiture