shawna mcleod /

Shawna McLeod’s paintings are at once full and empty. They depict messy rooms and piles of objects. The images are void of humans while their presence is rendered palpable by the things they’ve left behind. Mcleod’s works are remiscent of Vanitas, they speak to the transience of life and present the inevitable absence of the person living it. The objects McLeod paints are highly personal and reflect her own experiences of collecting, elaborating, and repeating both in her artistic practice and personal life. 

 McLeod posits an interest in locations of isolation, specifically the painter’s studio, and a kind sentimentality that is developed with the banal objects found within.  The abstraction of space and use of an airbrush give a fairytale quality to the work, presenting a mystical view of these objects that seem to be magically strewn about, floating on lofty cloudlike compositions. Shawna McLeod completed her master’s degree from Concordia University in 2008, she has exhibited her work throughout Canada and held a residency at the Apex Art Center in NYC, New York in 2009. Her work can be found in the Canada Council Art Bank collection as well as private collections throughout Canada.

Shawna McLeod Floor 2009, acrylic, airbrush medium and oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
© Shawna McLeod, 2009


vanitas
jan. 21 feb. 21 2010