Mandeep Dillon works across disciplines to explore notions of entropy and impermanence. Her ephemeral sculptures are an ongoing investigation into the transient physicality of human and non-human entities. Conflicted about occupying space and adding to a crowded world, temporality is an integral aspect of her work. Photographs are often the only lasting evidence of an object having existed. Works made primarily of inflatables are inherently fragile. Their physical stability depends on a delicate balance between the inner and outer pressure of their gossamer skins. Reacting to subtle environmental changes, their swollen buoyancy hints at a sense of imminent collapse. Orbs that dangle or wobble precariously may appear as parodies of entrails or as comedic characters. When situated in a landscape, they present as alien fruits or topiary. Experiencing something both abstract and visceral, the onlooker’s presence may trigger a kinetic reaction and an awareness of their embodied relationship with the sculpture. The incorporation of discarded medical and laboratory instruments suggests the fragile symbiosis between human-made and organic forms. At the end of its cycle work is deflated, re-used or re-fashioned for new purposes. The video, collage, and photography works reveal that as the human world strives to becomes more self-reflective, the animal world is becoming increasingly de-animalised. The chicken, for example, is a recurring theme and a microcosm of these ideas; it is little more than a unit of production, a thing to be traded, and no different from an inanimate widget.
Education
2019 MA Sculpture Royal College of Art (Dissertation Distinction)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 The London Group Open, Copeland Gallery
2023 Artcan, Department Store Brixton
2023 Phoenix Art Space, Brighton
2023 Amplify, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts
2023 Rawlinson & Hunter, London, Ingram Collection
2023 Chroma, Artcan, London
2022 Unit 1 Gallery, London, Ingram Prize
2022 New Platform Art, Parker Harris
2021 The Last Sunset, St John Church Gallery Bethnal Green
2021 The Uncanny, Kofferraun Haus Gallery
2021 Let them Eat Cake, Huddersfield
2021 Portrait Within, The House of Tiny Smalls
2021 Depictions of Living (On-line) 2021 Void Collective
2020 Is this Normality? Clerkenworks, London
2020 Little Voices, Kensington + Chelsea Art Week
2020 Outside the Form, Fringe Arts Bath
2020 New Moon, Lumen Crypt Gallery, London
2020 Depictions of Living, Art Pavilion, London
2019 October Gallery, collaboration with Rebecca Phillips
2019 RCA Degree Show, London
2019 Petting Zoo, Hockney Gallery, RCA, London
2019 Dirty Hands and Revelations, Standpoint Gallery, London
2018 Super-cult, Hockney Gallery, RCA, London
2018 WIP, RCA, London
2017 Double Pelican, Dyson Gallery, RCA, London
2017 CGP Open, London
2017 Small is Beautiful, More and Less, Unit 3 Gallery, London
2017 This Year’s Model, The Human Stain, Studio 1:1 Gallery, London
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Actone Cinema, Acton, London
2022 Objects of Disquiet, Orleans House Gallery
2021 No 25, Berkley Square, W1
2020 Gunnersbury Park Museum, Ealing
2017 BEAT Open Studios, London
Awards
2022 Shortlisted Ingram Prize
2021 Recipient of Parker Harris New Platform Mentoring Award
2019 Madame Tussauds Fine Art Prize for final RCA MA show
Residencies
2023-24 AA2A Buckinghamshire New University
2023 Cefn Garthenor, Wales
2019 Standpoint Gallery, London
Curation
2021 Art is Freedom (Anti-Slavery Day)
Curation of exhibition by survivors of modern slavery Paternoster Square, London
About
Mandeep Dillon lives and works in London. She has had a previous career as a documentary filmmaker and creative director. She has worked on programmes about the arts, environmental issues and conflict across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.