alex mcleod: distant secrets

alex mcleod: distant secrets angell gallery, toronto august 25th to september 24th, 2011 ‘every asset’, 2011 C-print 32" × 48" edition 1 of 1

toronto’s angell gallery presents a new series of 2D works by canadian artist alex mcleod, who creates chromogenic color prints of fantastical and romantic landscapes, or dioramas, both candy-coated and darkly whimsical. the anonymous and deserted scenes depicted in mcleod’s work appear as if they were first manufactured by hand and then photographed, but in reality, the only thing that truly exists is the paper they are printed on.

‘forest city’, 2011 C-print 48" × 96" edition 1 of 1

mcleod composes his vast-seeming, self-contained vistas as though he were an omniscient diety. the imagery spangles with baroque effects, cartoon charms and non-existent sets, that in rendering them, become the ultimate opera stage; totally make believe. the artist leaves his landscapes conspicuously depopulated, which often seem to echo with the noise of their denizens. these hyper-real, hyper-visible works tip us off to the disappearance, not only of the ‘fourth wall’ between themselves and us, but of the boundary between truth and hyper-fiction in the world at large.

‘mystery’, 2011 C-print 40" × 60" edition 1 of 1

‘blood clouds’, 2011 C-print 40" × 60" edition 1 of 1

‘red sea’, 2011 C-print 40" × 60" edition 1 of 1

‘evergreen’, 2011 C-print 32" × 48" edition 1 of 1

‘ruinscape’, 2011 C-print 32" × 48" edition 1 of 1

‘magic’, 2011 C-print 36" × 36" edition 1 of 1 ‘grass mounds’, 2011 C-print 36" × 36" edition 1 of 1

‘jungle‘, 2011 C-print 36" × 36" edition 1 of 1