Lucy McKenzie (B. 1977)

With its life-sized presence mimicking the elegant curves of a wrought-iron gate, Untitled, 2002, testifies to Lucy McKenzie’s interest in the relationship between reality and representation, especially in regards to the design of public and social spaces. Her trompe l’oeil technique creates realistic yet surreal apparitions: the immediately recognisable decorative motif moulds into a facial silhouette in the centre of the composition, whose head is literally spelled out in rounded letters reading ‘Brain’. McKenzie’s stylised shapes recall the
visual puns of some of Magritte’s surreal work, though the collaged Scottish pound notes give Untitled a Dadaist ironic and dreamlike feel.