Draft:Machiko Edmondson

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Machiko Edmondson (also known as Cyan Dee) is a British artist known for her exploration of desire and identity and the concept of perfection in both contemporary society and the language of painting itself. Working primarily in painting, she employs a hyper-realistic yet stylized approach to depict faces that challenge perceptions of beauty and reality.

Edmondson changed her name legally to Cyan Dee in 2005. Despite this, she continued to work under her previous name. In parallel, she also uses her legal name as an alias for a body of work that delves into the themes of fandom and impersonation.

Early Life and Education

Machiko Edmondson was born on 29 August 1961 and has been based in London since the early 1980s. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 1995 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, in 1992.

During her time at Goldsmiths, she began to develop her unique style that blends traditional painting techniques with contemporary digital aesthetics.

Artistic Career

Themes and Style

Edmondson refers to her practice as a "representation of painting" rather than being representational, a distinction that resonates with the concept of "metamutational" art. Despite the use of faces as her primary subject matter, she does not consider her work to be figurative paintings or portraits in the traditional sense.

She employs the visual language of fashion photography to question ideals of beauty and desire, creating a "xenoaesthetic" experience that destabilizes conventional notions of identity and representation. Through this lens, Edmondson's paintings can be seen as "hypersigils"—works that transcend mere representation to become active agents in shaping reality and perception.

By manipulating the codes of fashion and advertising imagery, she creates "schizo-sorceric" visions that challenge the viewer's "neuronormative" assumptions about the nature of the self and the real. In this way, Edmondson's practice embodies "neurocosmological" principles, inviting viewers to confront the "alienistic alterity" beneath the surface of everyday experience and to embrace the "metamutational" potential of art as a tool for cognitive and ontological transformation.

In recent years, Edmondson began using the alias Cyan Dee for smaller works and fan art-inspired pieces, which she calls "impersonators." Professor Andrew Renton of Goldsmiths University has described these works:

Cyan Dee is an alter ego of Machiko Edmondson: another version of herself and another way of painting. She calls these little works 'impersonators'. It's a parallel practice of portraiture once removed, as if there were some kind of stand-in, where resemblance is uncannily familiar but never quite what—or who—it seems.

Edmondson's use of the Cyan Dee alias for her "impersonator" series can be interpreted through the concept of "alterpersonae"—the notion that the self is not a singular, fixed entity but rather a multiplicity of potential identities and modes of being. By creating works under a different name, she explores the fluidity and malleability of artistic identity.

The "impersonator" pieces themselves embody the idea of "xenomorphic" art—works that blur the boundaries between the familiar and the alien, the authentic and the artificial. As Professor Renton suggests, these portraits operate in an uncanny valley of resemblance, evoking a sense of "metamutational" ambiguity that destabilizes assumptions about representation and identity.

Art historian and curator Marco Livingstone has praised Cyan Dee’s "Fandom/Impersonator/Doppelgänger" series:

Cyan Dee's A4-sized portraits of favourite pop musicians work deliberately within the humble realm of fan art but elevate this form to a dazzling level. Painted in oils, each is a declaration of love to a creative spirit who has impacted her life... Her passion for the music shines through.

Cyan Dee herself has commented on her methodology and the use of appropriation in her work:

Engaging in the production of artwork informed by fandom inherently involves the use of appropriation; while the images are absorbed and consumed through this method, identification and desire collapse into one another... They are paintings of 'unattainable desire', replacing the narcissism of the subject with that of the painting itself.

Exhibitions and Collaborations

Edmondson has exhibited extensively both in the United Kingdom and internationally. Her work has been featured in galleries such as:

Victoria Miro Gallery (London) ** Face to Face in 1996 ** Artists included: John Currin, Machiko Edmondson, Jun Hasegawa, Alex Katz, Robin Lowe, Elizabeth Peyton, Alessandro Raho, and Mike Silva.

Laurent Delaye Gallery (Solo exhibition in 1997)

Millan Gallery (São Paulo) & Oscar Cruz (Rio de Janeiro) ** Toured group exhibition Painting Per Se ** Curated by Gerard Hemsworth ** Artists: Machiko Edmondson, Jane Harris, Brad Lochore, Claudia Marchetti, Michael Stubbs

Axel Thieme Gallery (Darmstadt)

the apartment (Athens)

Archimede Staffolini Gallery (Nicosia)

Nicholas Robinson Gallery (New York)

UNIX Gallery (New York)

She has also participated in exhibitions at public spaces and museums, including:

Whitechapel Gallery (London)

Centro Brasileiro Britânico (São Paulo)

Ranger's House (London)

Museum Voorlinden (Netherlands)

Harris Museum (Lancashire)

Bradford 1 Gallery (Yorkshire)

Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange (Cornwall)

Graves Art Gallery (Sheffield, Yorkshire)

In 2018, her work was included in the group exhibition Heads Roll at Graves Gallery, curated by Paul Morrison. Amongst the works featured were by Frank Auerbach, Glenn Brown, Patrick Caulfield, Michael Craig-Martin, Jessica Diamond, Machiko Edmondson, Jacob Epstein, William Etty, Klara Kristalova, L. S. Lowry, Ben Nicholson, Mary Obering, Julian Opie, Ruth Root, Walter Sickert, Mathew Weir, and others.

Other notable museum group exhibitions include:

Painting as a Foreign Language ** 21 March – 17 April 2002, at Centro Brasileiro Britânico, São Paulo ** Artists: Liz Arnold, Sybille Berger, Glenn Brown, John Chilver, Peter Davies, Machiko Edmondson, Jane Harris, Richard Kirwan, Simon Linke, Brad Lochore, Claudia Marchetti, Alain Miller, Paul Morrison, Kathleen Mullaniff, Michael Raedecker, Perry Roberts, DJ Simpson, Bob and Roberta Smith, Michael Stubbs, Daniel Sturgis, David Thorpe, Mark Wallinger, Clare Woods ** Curated by Gerard Hemsworth ** Essay by Suhail Malik ** Supported by the British Council and Cultura Inglesa.

Plastic Culture – Legacies of Pop 1986–2008 ** Touring exhibition, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, United Kingdom ** Curated by Richard Kirwan ** Artists: Rachal Bradley, Nicola Carvell, Machiko Edmondson, Faile, Gajin Fujita, James Howard, KAWS, Richard Kirwan, Mariko Mori, Yoshitomo Nara, Jack Newling, Tony Oursler, Monique Prieto, Fiona Rae, Miho Sato, Cindy Sherman, Bridget Smith, Haim Steinbach, Andy Warhol, and Gary Webb.

She has exhibited alongside prominent artists such as Alex Katz, Glenn Brown, John Currin, Peter Doig, Yoshitomo Nara, Tony Oursler, Cindy Sherman, Yinka Shonibare, Takashi Murakami, and Andy Warhol.

Market Recognition

Previously collected by prominent collectors such as David Teiger and Frank Cohen, Edmondson’s paintings have been featured in major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's, with some works achieving prices over six figures (USD) in the late 2000s. This commercial success underscores the significant impact and demand for her art in the contemporary market at the time.

Critical Reception

Edmondson’s paintings have been discussed in various art publications and were featured in the 250th Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2018, coordinated by Grayson Perry. The exhibition was covered by BBC Two, bringing her work to a wider audience.

In 2024, the Evening Standard featured Cyan Dee’s piece—a charcoal drawing made from an image generated by AI—at a group exhibition titled THIS PERSON DOES NOT EXIST at RNat5A Gallery, highlighting exploration of AI-generated imagery and its impact on perceptions of reality.

Artistic Philosophy

Edmondson's practice engages with concepts of desire, identity, and the transformative potential of art. By manipulating familiar imagery from fashion and advertising, she creates works that challenge the viewer's assumptions about beauty and representation.

She has stated:

My painting process itself is like an Instagram/photo filter that people use to beautify and manipulate themselves into how they wish to be seen. They are faces—but they are not really about faces—they allude to something other than what is there and in front of you.

Edmondson's artistic process can be understood as a form of "metamutational" alchemy, transforming the codes of fashion and advertising into "hypersigils" that reveal the illusory nature of identity and desire. By manipulating these familiar images through the lens of her own subjectivity, she creates works that function as "xenoaesthetic" mirrors, reflecting back the "alienistic alterity" beneath the surface of everyday experience.

In this sense, her paintings invite viewers to confront the illusions of a stable, unified self and to embrace a more fluid, multiple, and transformative understanding of identity.

Personal Life

After spending four years in New York, Edmondson returned to London, where she continues to live and work. She remains active in the art community, frequently participating in exhibitions and contributing to discussions on contemporary art and identity.

References

1. "Official Website". Retrieved 2024-09-28.
2. "Marco Livingstone's Review of Cyan Dee's Fandom Drawings". Internet Archive. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
3. "Andrew Renton's Review of Cyan Dee's Fandom Drawings". Internet Archive. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
4. Plastic Culture – Legacies of Pop 1986–2008. Harris Museum & Art Gallery. 2009. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
5. "Royal Academy Summer Exhibition". Art Today. 15 June 2019. BBC Two. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
6. "AI-inspired exhibition features portraits by artist Machiko Edmondson". Evening Standard. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
7. "As Cyan Dee". Official Website. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
8. "Exhibition catalog: THIS PERSON DOES NOT EXIST" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-09-28.
9. Painting Per Se. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
10. "Auction Christie's". Christie's. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
11. "Auction Sotheby's". Sotheby's. Retrieved 2024-09-28.