WATCH THE EXHIBITION WALKTHROUGH
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Bayou, Sea and Canyon, an exhibition of new paintings by Rachel MacFarlane. The exhibition will open on September 9th and run until October 2nd with an opening day reception on Saturday, September 11th. This is MacFarlane’s 4th solo exhibition at the gallery.
Rachel MacFarlane’s paintings defy a single genre, encompassing elements of sculpture, abstraction, and landscape. Her unique process involving the construction of small maquettes has always been a major catalyst in her work. It is only more recently however, that she has been able to combine this sculptural technique with her muse, the natural world. MacFarlane grew up in rural Ontario and she has resided in New York since receiving her MFA in Painting from Rutgers University. It was not until she moved away from Canada that she realized the importance of landscape in her practice.
In 2019, MacFarlane was the recipient of the Canada Arts Council Explore and Create Grant and an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. With these grants she travelled to three locations across North America, intentionally selected for their unique character and biodiversity: Sedona, Arizona; New Orleans, Louisiana and Gros Morne, Newfoundland. During her travels, MacFarlane recorded her impressions of the places she encountered including their distinctive qualities of light, dramatic weather, and native vegetation. She then edited and compressed the landscapes into their most essential and dramatic features. Bayou, Sea and Canyon, presents new colourful and dynamic paintings based on her explorations of these epic landscapes.
MacFarlane’s first solo exhibition at the MacLaren Art Centre will open in December 2021.