IAN MACKAY
LEARNING TO STAY WITH THE TROUBLE

JANUARY 03 TO 27, 2018

PUBLIC PREVIEW: FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 6 - 8 PM
OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2 - 5 PM

The Red Head Gallery is pleased to present Ian Mackay’s exhibition Learning to Stay with the Trouble. The exhibition presents a series of paintings and drawings of subjects and scenarios that resonate with larger issues in our current political and cultural landscape.  Drawing on the legacies of both figurative and abstract painting, Mackay creates speculative situations containing energetic motifs that seem to be actively managing, even fighting, the limitations of their depicted environments -the limits of the canvas itself. Paintings such as Broken Hotel Window (2017) and Painter’s Bag of Tricks Open for Customs Inspection (2017) are imaginary responses to recent troubling events.  In depicting the unthinkable, or the impossible, Mackay’s paintings convey anxiety and urgency while doubling as allegories about the limits, mobility and efficacy of the painted image. 

BIO

Ian Mackay is a Canadian artist living in Toronto where he maintains his studio. He completed his AOCA at Ontario College of Art in 1980 with studies in Photo-Electric Art. Upon graduation, Ian balanced career and vocation and in 2009 he completed a BFA at OCAD University in Integrated Media. Since 2009 Ian has concentrated exclusively on his painting practice and has exhibited at The Art Gallery of Hamilton, at co-operative artist-run galleries in Toronto and the contemporary art fair Art Toronto.