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INTERIM, 1984-89

Interim, Kelly’s second large-scale installation, which includes Part I: Corpus, Part II: Pecunia, Part III: Historia, and Part IV: Potestas, explores themes concerned with the construction of feminine subjectivity. In Corpus, the artist’s first person narratives explore fantasies of aging, filtered through discourses of fashion, medicine and fiction. Each group of six panels is named after one of the five passionate attitudes that psychiatrist Jean-Martin Charcot attributed to hysterical women in the late-nineteenth century. Extase, Menacé, Supplication, Érotisme and Appel are each represented by an item of clothing folded or tied three different ways, one to accompany each narrative. The shadows cast by the photo laminates underscore the artist’s avoidance of figurative representation, and strategic use of the indexical sign. Pecunia evokes the problematic relation to money, while Potestas exposes the subtle encoding of power in everyday life, and Historia reflects on women’s time.

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Interim, 1984 - 1989
Installation in four parts
Background left,
Postestas,

Background right, Corpus
Foreground, Historia
Dimensions Variable
Installation View, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 1990

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Interim Part I: Corpus, 1984 - 85
Laminated photo positive, silkscreen, acrylic on Plexiglas
30 panels, 36 x 48 x 2 inches each

37_MaryKelly_Interim_PartI_Corpus-Menace

Detail, Menace, 1 of 6 panels
Laminated photo positive, silkscreen, acrylic on Plexiglas
30 panels total, 36 x 48 x 2 inches

38_MaryKelly_Interim_PartI_Corpus-Menace

Detail, Menace, 1 of 6 panels
Laminated photo positive, silkscreen, acrylic on Plexiglas
30 panels total, 36 x 48 x 2 inches

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Interim Part II: Pecunia, 1989
Installation View, New Museum of Contemporary Art
Silkscreen on galvanized steel
20 units, 16 x 6.5 x 11.5 inches each
Collection, Vancouver Art Gallery

02a Pecunia_Conju_06.jpg

Detail, Conju, 1 of 4 sections
Silkscreen on galvanized steel
20 units, 16 x 6.5 x 11.5 inches each

02b Pecunia_Conju_04.jpg

Detail, Conju, 1 of 4 sections
Silkscreen on galvanized steel
20 units, 16 x 6.5 x 11.5 inches each

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Interim, Part III: Historia, 1989
Oxidized steel, silkscreen, stainless steel on wood base
4 units, 61 x 36 x 29 ins. each
Collection, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina

03a  Interim Part III Historia Detail 1.jpg

Historia, Detail, 1 of 4 units
Oxidized steel, silkscreen, stainless steel on wood base
4 units, 61 x 36 x 29 ins. each
Collection, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina

04 Interim Part IV Potestas Installation view.jpg

Interim, Part IV: Potestas, 1989
Etching, brass and mild steel (edition of 2)
14 units, 100 x 114 x 2 ins. overall dimensions
Collection, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Collection, Helsinki City Art Museum

04a Interim Part IV Potestas Detail 1.jpg

Potestas, Detail, 1 of 14 units
Etching, brass and mild steel (edition of 2)
14 units, 100 x 114 x 2 ins. overall dimensions
Collection, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Collection, Helsinki City Art Museum

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