In Gary McMillan’s “Galapagos” series, the painter guides us into alien ecosystems, inviting viewers along as explorers to make any observations they can from the creatures and activity there. The work is rooted in the artist’s interest in both science and art. And McMillan says he is “interested in how one makes sense of new things through remembered experience of the familiar.”
“In this series of paintings, I am acting as a gentleman explorer, looking for new places to observe in order to think about things in a different way,” the artist says. “I like to think of the viewer as an explorer also, perhaps on a group expedition into these places of mine, where there are natural forms and situations that are unfamiliar. The color of everything around is strange but beautiful and the way all of these natural forms fit into a local ecology is a mystery, even to the scientists in the group.”
See more works from this series below.
In Taylor Schultek’s riveting oil paintings, an urban structure is as much a character as his human subjects. The connection between humanity and environment is often at play, with the art of graffiti often in progress. The artist's own history in graffiti and graphic design seem to converge in building believable backdrops.