The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TS

Still life is at the heart of Lisa Milroy’s artistic practice. From the 1980s when her paintings depicted ordinary objects against an off-white background, through the 1990s, a time in which her compositions grew to include landscape, architecture and people, her work has developed in recent years to focus on large-scale paintings. Her interest in painting-installations has led to Act One, Seen Too, a new work produced in collaboration with Ikon and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

Set in the Barber Concert Hall, Act One, Seen Too invites viewers to experience Milroy’s painting from the theatre seats and subsequently on the stage. A series of handmade painted kimonos, each with a character-like presence, appears to have been cast into leading roles in a play. Milroy directly addresses the participatory nature of looking at painting and the presence of the subject. By asking visitors to step onto the stage, she encourages them to explore the various components of the painting and initiates a scene in which they begin to ‘perform’ the painting for themselves. Act One, Seen Too will also be presented at UCL Bloomsbury Theatre in January 2012.