The Amusement Machines drawing series preceded Hlady’s Amusement Machines (1996–2000), a body of kinetic sound sculptures built from mechanical, toy-based assemblages. Rendered in ink and acrylic on draught paper or oil on paper, the drawings function as speculative propositions for machines that employ everyday objects and mechanical systems to explore the abstraction of time and sound.
In her exhibition text, “How to Draw Sound,” written for Hlady’s solo exhibition at The Power Plant (Toronto) in 2001, Nancy Campbell reflects: “There is another side of Hlady’s drawing practice, distinguished by drawings that exist where no three-dinmentional realization has been developed. This is not to imply that the ideas explored had no relevance or merit but rather that, like Duchamp’s imagined Surrealist contraptions, they are inventions purely of the imagination. With titles like Plan for a Sculpture to Make People Fly, Electromagnetic Clown Machine and Untitled (plan for gameboard kit), these fanciful ink drawings are intended as exercices for the mind’s eye, offering up possibilities for dreams and whimsy. They also serve to motivate and enlighten the artists between larger projects, allowing her to realize conceptually ideas that cannot be realized otherwise.”
Exhibition history: 2012 Galerie Engramme (Montreal, Quebec); Owens Art Gallery (Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada); 2002 Neutral Ground (Regina, Canada); 1998 Cold City Gallery (Toronto); 1997 Galerie Christiane Chassay (Montreal, Canada)
Publication: Campbell, Nancy. “How to Draw Sound.” Marla Hlady, The Power Plant, 2001.
Press: Eden, Xandra. Marla Hlady. Toronto, The Power Plant Gallery, 2001.
Brooks, Sharon. Gut Machines. Montreal, Galerie Christiane Chassay, April 1995.
See also: Untitled (Shelf Works), Electro-Magnetic Chihuahua-Nod Machine (video)
