Still Pendulums | Dan MacDougall
My intention with these paintings was to use the still life format to develop simple narratives.
Narrative, in painting, often refers to a series of events compressed into a single image – implying that something has taken place or is about to. With the development of abstract painting in the 20th century, many artists removed the notion of narrative from their work, thereby creating a new reality.
In Still Pendulums, I was interested in returning to the narrative tradition, developing simple narratives by employing ambiguous backgrounds and surfaces that contained little information. Rather than depicting passive objects at rest, in each work a single perishable object is suspended. This evokes the possibility of movement, suggesting that a deliberate intervention has either occurred or is imminent.
The still life is a relatively pure format, but has the potential to be abstracted. Although the form has been practiced throughout history, since the time of the Ancient Egyptians, it did not come into its own until the 19th century. I have referenced this through the dark, almost landscape-like backgrounds, present in this work.
Working, first with a painted medium, allowed me a level of control over the aesthetics of the still lifes. For example, I could establish and control a simple aesthetic, manipulating the lighting and thereby altering shadows. I could affect the tension between the objects and the horizontal surfaces below them, as well as the edges of the frame. Photography also allowed me to explore the notion of appropriated or borrowed images. However, unlike how Manet borrowed from Raphael, and Picasso from Rubens and Velazquez, I employed photography to borrow my own images. I then manipulated these photographed images, so as to remap the language and view the still lifes with a different lens.
EXHIBITION DETAILS | the exhibition will include MacDougall's original Still Pendulum paintings alongside his Still Pendulum photographic print. The prints have been individually 'mapped' by the artist to create a new and unique perspective to the image. Each piece has a single edition. Pricing begins from $800 framed to $1200. View Installation
Still Pendulums | view the full collection View Installation
BIO | Victoria artist Dan MacDougall grew up in Vernon, BC and graduated in 1971 from the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University) on a full Helen Pitt Scholarship. He has taught at the Vancouver School of Art Night School, The University of Saskatchewan in Regina, The University of Victoria and The Banff School. In recent years his reductive and abstract style has interpreted minute, clear-focus, curved patterns found in the environment, particularly landscape. With “Still Pendulums” he has turned his interest to the development of the narrative in still life and a new interest in incorporating photography into his work.Dan is represented in the permanent collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada Art Bank, the Norman Mackenzie Art gallery and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Exhibition dates: 25 February, through 22 March, 2011
Print & sale inquiries can be directed to Diana Millar diana@luzgallery.com