Following Magda Archer’s debut solo exhibition Crazy Mad at Cornerhouse in 2011, the print queen returns with an assault upon the peepers in our public spaces via saccharine-soaked, candy coloured scenarios, statements and speech-bubble philosophy that draws upon vintage packaging, greeting card design, retro graphics and a lemon-sharp sweetness that belies the bitter truth beneath. Emblazoning our Granada Foundation gallery walls with all-new work and offering super-affordable limited prints in our bookshop, Magda Archer showers the viewer with rainbow shards as she explores junk emotions and online validation in our first HOME Projects exhibition.
“In my show #givemeeverythingandnothingbaby, the internet is the modern day funfair: exciting, attractive, fast and flashy, but disappointing and upsetting too. Your heart can be broken in the time it takes to ride the dodgems. Your self-esteem can be shattered with a stray Facebook comment from a ‘friend’. Your ego smashed to smithereens when someone tags you into an unflattering photo… you don’t REALLY look like that do you? Don’t tell me, cos #ireallydontwannaknow. These emotions can lead to a sense of despondency, upset or heartbreak. We can empty our pockets out trying to win something we never really wanted in the first place. We vow never to go back and know in our hearts that ‘this shit will bring you down’. But you do go back, the lights are bright, the music’s loud and enticing, everyone else is there. You recognise a friend of a friend and now they’re you’re friend too, right?” – Magda Archer, April 2015