Wot u:-) about?

Maclean’s ground-breaking body of work Wot u:-) about? was originally showcased at Tate Britain and HOME, Manchester (2016-17). The sculptures :-) and :-( formed part of this work, which also included a large format print series, We Want Data! (2016), and a new film commissioned by HOME, It’s What’s Inside That Counts (2016). These larger-than-life figures :-) and :-( are the first sculptures ever made by the artist. Resembling hybrids of bored commuters, cutesy kids’ TV monsters and sickeningly engorged biological organs, they function as inanimate viewers for a series of infographic videos, displaying spreadsheets, bar graphs and market research surveys to their unblinking users. This work explores ideas about the cult of youth and the exaggerated enthusiasm of happiness marketing. They take the form of part playground-equipment, part grotesque and bloated mannequins, presenting a vision of society that is at once seductive and nightmarish, exaggerating contemporary preoccupations and behaviours.