A first impression of one of Kevin MacDonald’s colored pencil drawings is wonderment. What is this? Is it a drawing, a photo, a print? MacDonald began with a fine graphite drawing to lay out a scene, building shapes and shadow with finely crosshatched colored pencil marks, gradations of color, and a love for the subtle, soft surface of paper.
Coming of age in Washington, DC in the 1960s, as a student at the Corcoran School of Art, MacDonald was surrounded by the artists of the Washington Color School, who were experimenting with acrylic pigment on raw canvas and the liberation from subject matter. In contrast, MacDonald’s work embodied the rigorous, close study of objects and spatial relationships, remaining steadfastly dedicated to rendering, contour and the meticulous labor of translating a visual narrative to the two-dimensional plane.
Kevin’s signature works depict domestic interiors, urban sidewalks and storefronts, and the suburban housing tracts of post-WWII America. While void of people, these spaces vibrate with evidence of human presence in the form of a rumpled bedsheet, an abandoned coffee cup on a restaurant table, or an idling car. Depictions of familiar downtown spaces and the more far-flung geography of American life reflect a quiet concern, homing in on the fragility of urban architecture and recognizing the urgency of pollution's impact on the environment, all with a grace and pathos that gives the viewer license to observe on their own terms.
MacDonald departed from working in pencil on paper occasionally, often to explore a specific theme or allegory. Four portraits and still lifes from the series “Dinner at Herb’s” came about from a 1991 dinner party at Herb’s Restaurant, then a centerpoint of the Washington art scene. MacDonald and a friend took photos of the table and guests throughout the evening, then made two sets of photographs with the intent to create photocollages in the manner of David Hockney. Each guest at the table is portrayed with a Balinese mask or hands in motion, the place settings honoring the trifecta of water, bread and wine. With both humor and dexterity, MacDonald folds in the influences of Renoir’s classic impressionist party scene Luncheon of the Boating Party with the Indonesian belief that an animating power permeates all observable form.
Artwork by Kevin MacDonald (1946 - 2006) is in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and scores of public and private collections.
Kevin MacDonald: Dream State is the sixth in an ongoing series of virtual exhibitions presented by Hemphill Artworks.