WORK OF THE WEEK | 11 November: ALLAN MACDONALD | subliminal, Eastfjord

‘Getting into the zone' or flow state. There, open-eyed like a child, lies the excitement of being alive and the joy of discovering new things. Flow state allows you to disappear, and for what is important to emerge, and in art, if you are lucky, a memento of your journey will remain when the studio door is finally closed. Sometimes the dervish whirl of brush and paint reveals a vision, and this is what Allan MacDonald has achieved with ‘Subliminal, Eastfjord.’

I have shown MacDonald's work in Kilmorack Gallery for twenty-seven years and in that time he has placed innovation on top of innovation: inch-thick yellow oil paint suns turned to dark St Kilda paintings, then to birches that danced in Westcoast light, mountains so high their peaks remain hidden and, not long ago, MacDonald brought us his bright Tom Tomson inspired canvases. But these latest works by MacDonald take us to a surprising new place. There is a fresh blue and red palette and MacDonald has scratched and drawn into the painted surface which adds real and metaphorical layers to ‘Subliminal.’ The composition is both simple and complicated – a cold blue otherworld sea below and above this, the warm human world. Higher still is a moon of sea blue. And slowing swimming through the canvas is the ghost of a whale. This is something seen and not seen. Maybe it is a whale that was there but isn’t there any longer. A mirage like MacDonald’s paddleboarder paintings.

‘Subliminal, Eastfjord’ is part of a group of work inspired by MacDonald’s visit to Iceland in 2022 and it and the other paintings in this series captures the surprises and wonders of a country known for ice, the thin crust between our world and magma, the intoxication of the north and sagas. When in Iceland, you are dwarfed by larger things. In Iceland, mankind is the interloper. We are guests, small characters, bit parts in a much bigger story. MacDonald conveys this, and this feeling of intimate connection is what makes MacDonald’s work so powerful.