Bodytronic

The Scottish artist France-Lise McGurn paints on canvases as well as directly on the walls of exhibition spaces, often combining the two to create an immersive experience. In her work she draws on a collected archive of images from films, club flyers and magazines, as well as her own experiences, ranging from life in a city, partying and dreams to motherhood and female sexuality. Bodytronic refers to the rhythmic, the trance and the moving body. Individual body parts float unrestrained across the different surfaces, connecting the canvases with the wall painting they are placed directly on to. The swift brushstrokes and repeated marks spill freely across canvases onto surrounding surfaces, animating the space with suggestions of pleasure, continual motion and the layered quality of contemporary experience. McGurn's archetypal figures suggest both the distance of city life and the strange intimacy of urban connection. The solo exhibition and accompanying publication show a selection of new works that McGurn produced during the COVID-19 lockdown. Confinement has highlighted for her the gap between private and public lives, specifically the response to certain kinds of behaviour.