Renee McGinnis creates the ominous threat of impending disasters in these allegorical paintings, from her Empirical Eternity series.   (Above: Battersea Power Palace, 32″ x 48″ oil and 23k gold on panel)

(Above: Gary, Indiana  – oil on canvas, 42″ x 48″)

The works show deep contrast – and an adroit artistic hand – through the use of derelict structures surrounded by topiary gardens in a thriving, deep emerald green.

(Above: From the Battersea Power Park  Series, 2009-10)

The works “serve as beautiful warnings to us all, speaking visually about humanity, triumph, and tragedy and how these dualities co-exist,” the Packer Schopf Gallery says in the artist notes.  McGinnis has recently rendered a whole series on disintegrating, and sometimes beached, ocean-going vessels, called The Girls.

Above: Fire in the belly of the stricken Marquessa / Below: Battersea Ocean Liner

Renee McGinnis received a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and did graduate work in sociology and anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited widely in Chicago and has also been shown in Germany, Australia and the U.S. See more on her website, here.