Rachel MacFarlane, clearly an artist to watch

NOTE: This piece was published in 2011, as Rachel MacFarlane was coming to wide public attention. Go to Hollis Taggart Gallery for an up to date look at her work today in the mainline New York art world.

This graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design has her first solo exhibit through Nov 5 at Nicholas Metivier, one of Toronto’s top galleries, which has shown her work since 2009.  She’s clearly a young artist to watch, especially since Metivier seems to have a keen sense for identifying the up and coming.  Witness the success of  Stephen Appleby-Barr, also a Metivier artist, whose work is so popular there’s a waiting list.  Rachel MacFarlane appears to have the same potential momentum with her colorful, kaleidoscopic work.

MacFarlane “uses tiny maquettes made of found refuse that serve as references for painted worlds that fall somewhere between mimetic representation and abstraction. Through a two-step process of translating and transforming, materials that are considered unattractive and unwanted become the basis for imaginary painted spaces.” Nicholas Metivier Gallery

The bold, near-psychedelic colour and the overlapping, wrapping and twisted planes of MacFarlane’s work reference Cubism and Surrealism, but the style is uniquely her own.

Also see more on Rachel MacFarlane’s blog. And on her Tumblr, here.