Todd McKie: Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Look at Art Again
On View: March 29 – April 20, 2013
Reception: Friday, March 29, 6 – 8pm
Todd McKie’s new paintings vibrate with color and vivacity. The figures and objects, though painted in a flat style, explode off the wall. “I’ve been enjoying purple and acid green lately,” McKie remarks. The painting titled “And the Winner Is . . . ” depicts a blue figure with green shoes, and one finished arm. The other arm points to a colored glass object teetering on a pillow, which rests on a table. The character looks at the viewer, offering up this beautiful object.
The color relationships are complex and seemingly irrational, but they are successful. There is a juxtaposition of sharp, distinct figures and symbols against cloudy, abstracted backgrounds. His medium of choice is flashe, a French matte acrylic paint. The result of this medium creates the look of rubbed or erased surface textures in the background, which alludes to the idea of confusion and disarray. In pieces like “A Summer Evening” and “Sweet Dream” the atmosphere has a quiet steadiness, with only subtle fluctuations that catch the eye. “Human Nature” and “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” host more exuberant and lively scenes that are more common of McKie’s work.
Todd Mckie
Admired by peers, collectors, and curators for his painterly invention and wit, McKie's work is, in fact often less understandable than it seems at first blush. Enveloped in a risible atmosphere of absurd predicament, the dilemmas of McKie's protagonists resist straightforward interpretation.
Avidly collected, McKie's works are held in many private and corporate collections and in the public collections of major museums throughout the region.