Arcade Park 'Obituarires' show, artists took on the personna of a fictional character from the 80's, who mysteriously died, the art work was resummed from the gallery collection.
Below is the obituary of Tonya McMullan

Tonya McMullan (22 February 1957 – 30th October 1985)

Tonya was an Irish -American artist know for her performance art and ‘crime scene interventionist’ painting, photographic, sculptural and video work.

Tonya was born in Belfast, earned a BA from Edinburgh College of Art in 1972, moved to New York at the age of 23 in 1973, and subsequently earned an MA in Painting at the New York Academy of Art.
Throughout the course of her career, she created work in New York, Scotland, Spain, Ireland and Serbia.

Much of Tonya’s work focus is on a spiritual and physical connection with disaster/ aftermath/ or unexplained violent events, typically involving documenting scenes of devastation and using this as source material for painting.

most particularly in her, ‘error’, paintings, which, depict scenes from the cattle mutilation phenomena in North America in the 70’s, cows were found dead (although the cause of death is undetermined), exsanguinated (all their blood has been removed), and have had certain organs surgically removed from their bodies.

In 1985, two months before her death, she took up residence at Can Serrat, International artist residency programme, El Bruc, Barcelona, Spain, where she started creating installations and sculptural works taking the form of theatrical compositions portraying a playful look at the world.

This sudden upbeat turn in her work, a step away from the macabre but in the same vain of drama and spectacle came to a cruel and tragic end when, in 1985, at the age of 28 she was found dead by a group trekking in Mount Montserrat, near Barcelona. Post Mortem reports say she fell to her death.

There has been much speculation as to the events which lead to her death. Two weeks before her body was found two farm workers saw a light aircraft above them, seemingly in difficulties, the plane crash landed in an olive grove, the onlookers rushed to the scene where they dragged the pilot, virtually unscathed, from the wreckage, he was delirious and appeared to be suffering from concussion, despite efforts from the onlookers to restrain him, he fled the scene and has never been located.

Some of Tonya’s belongings were found in the plane as well as some of her paintings and sculptural works. Police have identified the connection between the two crime scenes but the circumstances still remain a mystery and the case to this day is still open.

The destination of the aircraft was never established, and people close to Tonya at the time had no knowledge of her taking a journey in the aircraft. The recovered art works have been in storage in the police forensic laboratories, Departamento de Policía in Madrid, Spain.
Tonya’s family who look after her estate organised for the artefacts to be released for exhibition this year at the Brooklyn fire station studios where Tonya once occupied a studio in 1974.

Group who made the gruesome discovery... and the plane crash site..