Archive for 05/07/2010
GUEST ARTIST LECTURE SERIES: Alex McLeod
Come to the TORONTO SCHOOL OF ART
for an artist talk by candyman of the apocalypse
A L E X M c L E O D
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 19th
at the TSA, 410 Adelaide St. West, 3rd Floor
pay what you can + cash bar
The Toronto School of Art (TSA) is pleased to welcome Alex McLeod to our studios on Wednesday, May 19th, at 6:30 p.m. to talk about his work.
Alex McLeod constructs hyper-realistic 3D environments filled with crystalline mountains, fiery lakes, and rotund clouds, all rendered in a sickly sweet and gooey candy-colored palette. Recalling the wide-open vistas of Romantic landscape painting while at the same time staging otherworldly dystopias, McLeod’s CGI prints act as hybrid spaces that imply an almost infinite recombination of the past and present, the real and virtual.
Beneath their seductively polished surfaces, of glimmering fortresses and floating geometric abstractions, lies a haunting stillness that comes forth in the aftermath of cataclysmic events. The cause of destruction remains unknown in these depopulated spaces – there are no people in these images, however much human traces remain in the rickety railways and empty fortresses. And yet, from the twilight of devastation shown in these strange dioramas lies possibilities for hope and rebirth in our own digital milieu through the artist’s new approaches to concepts as varied as ecological responsibility and the shared intersections between photography and painting.
Alex McLeod lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Recent exhibitions include the solo exhibition Imperial Lands at ROJO Artspace Barcelona; participation in Empire of Dreams at MOCCA; and Estates of the Splendorous and Secret held in conjunction with the 2010 01SJ Biennial.
Eat some ice cream while you check out his website! www.alxclub.com
UPCOMING LECTURES:
Nadja Sayej Wednesday, June 9th at 6:30 p.m. www.artstarstv.com
Swintak Wednesday, June 16th at 6:30 p.m.
TORONTO SCHOOL OF ART 410 Adelaide Street West, 3rd Floor
(416) 504-7910 info@tsa-art.ca
Organized by Camilla Singh for the Toronto School of Art.
