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Paula McCartney: Bird Watching

July 2 - September 26, 2010

Paula McCartney, American Goldfinches, 2008, Courtesy of Klompching Gallery, New York

Paula McCartney, Baltimore Orioles, 2007, Courtesy of Klompching Gallery, New York

Paula McCartney, Pacific Mockingbird, 2008, Courtesy of Klompching Gallery, New York

Paula McCartney, Winter Bluebirds, 2005, Courtesy of Klompching Gallery, New York

Paula McCartney’s densely wooded landscapes are enlivened, ironically, by brightly colored craft store songbirds. While the deceit is more obvious in some pictures than others, what bears noticing is how these faux fowl punctuate their environments both as formal elements carefully arranged amid the brush and branches, and as a curious construction that offers an idealized vision of nature undercut by the gentle satire of that ideal.