My work unpacks the legacy of modern design principals that are located in our lived and embodied experience.
The design products of architecture and fashion are inspirational source material for my textile sculptures. Both clothing and buildings protect the body and exert control over it. My work embodies the discord between the aspirations of design and the function it serves for its users.
I use the language of abstraction to reference the formal and ideological tenets associated with modernism; its enthusiasm for technology, the human drive towards rational thought, and a desire to dominate nature. These ideas are subverted by materials and processes which imply a chaotic bodily presence. My work emphasises the bodies vulnerability and the frailty of human endeavours.
Education
2008 Master of Fine Art, RMIT University, Melbourne
1997 Bachelor of Design, majoring in Visual Communication Design, Victoria University, Wellington
1994 Diploma of Fine Art, Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art
Awards
2017 Parkin Drawing Prize
2015 Masterton District Council Creative Communities Grant
2008 Wellington City Council Creative Communities Grant
2007 RMIT NZ MFA Development Grant
1994 Otago University Art History and Theory Award
Selected exhibitions
2022 Viscera, Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington (solo)
2022 Rumpus (in conjunction with Threads Textiles Festival), Yu Mei, Wellington (solo)
2021 Finders, Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui
2021 Toro Whakaara, CoCA, Christchurch
2021 Carpet Burns, Scott Lawrie Gallery, Auckland (solo)
2021 Te Toi-O-Rehua (The Tasman), Scott Lawrie Gallery, Auckland
2021 Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Auckland
2021 Building Paper, Victoria University School of Architecture, Wellington (solo)
2019 Unravelled, City Gallery Wellington
2019 Sympathetic Resonance, The Suter Art Gallery, Nelson
2018 Happy Together, Objectspace, Auckland (solo)
2017 Vicious Circles, Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington (solo)
2016 State Block, Frontbox, St Paul Street Gallery, Auckland
2016 Dormitory, Rear Window, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin
2015 Demented Architecture, City Gallery, Wellington
2015 This used to be the future, Blindside, Melbourne (solo)
2014 National Contemporary Art Award, exhibition of finalists, Waikato Museum
2012 Marker, Ramp Gallery, Wintec, Hamilton
2011 Surface: Texture, Materiality and Conceptual Plasticity, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne
2010 Screen Capture, Inbetweenspaces ARI, Brisbane
2010 Surface, Blindside, Melbourne
2010 Opposite & Above, Photospace, Wellington
2009 Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award, exhibition of finalists, Waikato Museum
2009 I Came Back As Someone Else, Objectspace, Auckland (solo)
2009 CoCA Anthony Harper Contemporary Art Award, exhibition of finalists, Christchurch
2008 Surface, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin
2007 Covering, The Engine Room, Wellington (solo)
2007 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, exhibition of finalists, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
Collections
Wellington City Art Collection, New Zealand
Related professional experience
Lillico has taught contextual studies and studio-based papers at the College of Creative Arts, Massey University, Wellington, Wellington Institute of Technology (Weltec) and Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School. Currently she is Assistant Collection Manager (Digitisation), at Te Papa Tongarewa.
Publications and reviews
Blomely, Matt. I Came Back as Someone Else. Auckland: Objectspace, 2009. Media release.
Bramwell, Ali (2008, July). “On being wrong about pleasure.” Review of Surface, performance/installation by Kirsty Lillico and Pippa Sanderson, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin. Appliance, July 2008.
Corner, Katy. I Came Back as Someone Else. Auckland: Objectspace, 2009. Exhibition catalogue.
Dunn, Megan. Review of Vicious Circles, exhibition by Kirsty Lillico, Toi Poneke, Wellington. EyeContact. December 24, 2017. https://eyecontactmagazine.com/2017/12/vicious-circles.
Leonard, Robert. “Kirsty Lillico: Let Me Tell You About My Mother.” City Gallery Wellington blog. April 20, 2020. https://citygallery.org.nz/blog/let-me-tell-you-about-my-mother/
Lillico, Kirsty. “A Common Thread”. Interview by Jessie Wong. Fashion Quarterly New Zealand, Autumn 2022. https://fq.co.nz/a-common-thread-yu-meis-new-collaboration-with-textile-artist-kirsty-lillico/
Lillico, Kirsty. “This used to be the future”. Interview by Chris Clements. Published for the exhibition This used to be the future at BLINDSIDE, Melbourne, 2015. https://blind-side.squarespace.com/this-used-to-be-the-future
Lillico, Kirsty. “The Artist’s Uniform”. Interview by Tyson Beckett. Sunday Magazine, August 7 2022. https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/style/129467742/a-lesson-on-uniform-dressing-with-artist-kirsty-lillico
Lillico, Kirsty. “Kirsty Lillico has cut her own unique path to examining architecture.” Interview by Philippa Prentice. Homestyle magazine. October 2021. https://homestyle.co.nz/kirsty-lillico-has-cut-her-own-unique-path-to-examining-architecture/
Linzey, Kate. Toro Whakaara: Responses to our built environment. Edited by Tessa Forde. Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Objectspace, 2021-22. Exhibition catalogue. https://www.objectspace.org.nz/journal/toro-whakaara-kirsty-lillico/
Lister, Aaron. Demented Architecture. Wellington: City Gallery Wellington, 2015. Exhibition catalogue.
Lister, Aaron. “High Rise.” blog post. 2015. https://aaronlister.com/2015/02/15/high-rise/
Mahon, Hannah. “Rumpus (Room)” The Art Paper e-Journal. May 15, 2022. https://www.the-art-paper.com/journal/kirsty-lillico-yu-mei
McClintock, Sarah. Sympathetic Resonance. Edited by Sarah McClintock and Julie Catchpole. Nelson: The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, 2019. Exhibition catalogue.
Tratt, Dawn. “Pop Art.” Capital Times. July 9 2008.
Voon, Claire, “Cut-Up Carpet Wins New Zealand Drawing Prize” Hyperallegic. Published August 3 2017. https://hyperallergic.com/393782/kirsty-lillico-parking-drawing-prize-2017/
Wood, Andrew Paul, Carpet Burns, Auckland: Scott Lawrie Gallery, 2021. Essay published for the exhibition Carpet Burns at Scott Lawrie Gallery, Auckland.