MCDONALD DUCK PROJECT

MCDONALD DUCK PROJECT
1989 REVISITED
EWEN MCDONALD

5 AUGUST TO 30 AUGUST 2026

You could say that my installation MCDONALD DUCK PROJECT is about labour-intensive production. The two components are both the result of intensive hands-on work – a line of mismatched plastic eggs made for broody hens purchased from a sheltered workshop; and stuffed ducklings found on a road trip through France at a petrol station where one would least expect to see a display of fluffy Chinese souvenirs. Equally, the installation itself takes time … but in a gallery space, more a quiet contemplative experience than the exacting and systematic fabrication processes one associates with mass production .

As an installation artist exploring possibilities that could be determined ‘sculptural practice’, I have been interested more by the dynamics of arrangement and display, and the interplay of light and shadows in any particular room. I used to refer to myself as a ‘space engineer’ which always elicited quizzical responses about associations with NASA.

As a fan of Marcel Duchamp’s incorporation of the ready-made into art, I too am interested in readily available mass-produced objects. Further, the repetition associated with in-store and warehouse displays always drew my attention to the strange fact that the more one looks at a mass of things, the greater it seems there are subtle but nevertheless perceptible differences.

Ewen McDonald
August 2026

CONTACT: 0424291047