Details:
① Artwork:
Untitled
This painting depicts a witch on her knees as she holds a wildflower. In a background of washy greens and yellows, the witch rests her gaze on the field of black and grey poppies that surround her. The figure's head looks to something in the distance—out the pictorial frame of the painting—seeking to escape her present setting.
The artist's work frequently depicts female figures in fantastical scenes that contain hints of nefarious magic. However, McKendrick's use of both the fantastic and the absurd barely obscures the heavy symbolism in her work. The artist is a fluent colorist, combining fruity, saturated hues to produce a discordant sweetness—hinting at the emotional realities that undergird her compositions. McKendrick's enigmatic, narrative scenes hover between whimsy and the macabre, merging playful daydreams with fantasy.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Alissa McKendrick frequently depicts the female figure in her paintings—enigmatic, semi-narrative scenes that unfold against fields of emotive color. The artist’s compositions hover between whimsy and the macabre, merging playful daydreams with nightmares. McKendrick is a fluent colorist, combining a light, painterly touch with fruity, saturated hues to produce a discordant and cutting sweetness.
BIO:
Alissa McKendrick, born in 1984, attended Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island.
Solo exhibitions of McKendrick’s work have taken place at: de boer in Los Angeles, California; Collaborations in Copenhagen, Denmark; Team Gallery in New York City; and Real Fine Arts in Brooklyn, New York.
Group exhibitions that have shown McKendrick’s work have taken place at: Kaufmann Repetto in Milan, Italy; Galerie Crévecoeur in Paris, France; 68 Projects in Berlin, Germany; White Columns in New York City; Alex Zachary in New York City; Greene Naftali in New York City; Y2K Group in New York City; and Mercy Pictures in Auckland, New Zealand.
McKendrick’s work has been featured in Artforum, Art in America, Hyperallergic, and Artillery Magazine.
