Alex McQuilkin

Intimate and abrasive, the work of Alex McQuilkin (American, b. 1980) is consumed by the tragic experience of teenage adolescence for young women. Her brutal and self-effacing video and photographic works guide the viewer into the excessive juvenile world of her protagonists. In 2002, a then recent NYU graduate, McQuilkin's sold-out video Fucked caused a stir at the Armory Art show. Since then, she has exhibited widely in Europe and New York. Solo exhibitions include Galerie Adler, Frankfurt, Marvelli Gallery, Tufts University Art Gallery Aideman Arts Center, Medford, MA and the 404 Arte Contemporanea in Naples. Most recently, her work will be included in the 6th Busan Biennial this fall.

In Get Your Gun Up, McQuilkin plays with the notion of "a woman's weapon" in sharp contrast to the epic the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. She has appropriated theme song, setting it to a duel of swinging hips and red lips. A witty remark on the male-dominated western genre, McQuilkin heroines are not just powerful but also sensual and modern cowgirls.

McQuilkin is one to watch. Immensely followed in Germany, she is a graduate of the NYU Master of Fine Art program and already on the radar of curators and important collectors worldwide. She has a uniqueness that is easy to spot. Equally adept at photography and video, this is the only available DVD of Get Your Gun Up. A rare find!