Kathleen McShane: Monoliths

Kathleen McShane presents works from her "Monotlith Series" in her second solo exhibition at Paul Kotula Projects. Each sharing a "monolith," or painted cardboard collage element which looks like a parallelogram or stretched diamond shape hovering within an apparent space, these works investigate drawing beyond a flat surface toward a more substantial, sculptural object. Her drawings not only incorporate traditional mediums, they are cut and folded with collage images, and often take irregular forms.

McShane frequently utilizes images of full bookshelves, a reference to knowledge, time, space, and order, and stages them in highly abstracted landscapes that are as vast as Texas, where she now resides. 

Embracing a joyous spontaneity and gestural means of mark-making, Kathleen McShane has continually pushed the boundaries of drawing while remaining dedicated to the discipline. Her time assisting noted artists Pat Steir and the late Sol LeWitt reinforced her penchant for a conceptual approach to drawing and her affinity for an emotive presence in the simplest of any action on the paper. Her use of unused space is her own. The relationship of all the parts of her works is often the matter of their distance from each other.

Kathleen McShane received her BFA at New York State College of Art and Design at Alfred University and her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1990. She has lived and worked in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and presently Fayetteville, Texas, teaching drawing at Texas State University.

McShane's work has been shown at the Aldrich Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Weatherspoon Museum and Drawing Center, New York. It is included in several collections including Weatherspoon Museum, Rose Art Museum, McNay Art Museum, Fidelity Investments, and Sally and Wynn Kramarsky.