Allan Harding MacKay's Boreal Forest

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Allan Harding MacKay, "Boreal Series #7," 2017

charcoal, chalk pastel, wax, oil pastel and ink jet on paper (courtesy of the Willock and Sax Gallery, Banff)

Allan Harding MacKay’s take on landscape is contemporary; it feels intimate, relying on proximity, as opposed to the wide view, and on odd croppings that suggest a tilted angle rather than perfect perspective. His imagistic sensibility tends slightly toward abstraction.

In the seven pieces grouped as Boreal Series at the Willock and Sax Gallery until Oct. 29, MacKay renders photo-based, over-painted views of the environment he inhabits and observes – mountains, skies and trees – in and around Banff.

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Allan Harding MacKay, "Boreal Series #2," 2017

charcoal, chalk pastel, wax, oil pastel and ink jet on paper (courtesy of the Willock and Sax Gallery, Banff)

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Allan Harding MacKay, "Boreal Series #3," 2017

charcoal, chalk pastel, wax, oil pastel and ink jet on paper (courtesy of the Willock and Sax Gallery, Banff)

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Allan Harding MacKay, "Boreal Series #5," 2016

charcoal, chalk pastel, wax, oil pastel and ink jet on paper (courtesy of the Willock and Sax Gallery, Banff)

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With the computer, he compresses his photos into a square format and prints them on inkjet paper as monoprints. Then, after splattering wax over the surface, he layers colours with thin oil washes, charcoal, chalk and oil pastels. The effect draws attention to both the image and the surface.

MacKay describes the chemistry of the process: “The oil wash migrates to the paper between the wax droplets and the oil pastel adheres to the upper topography of the wax droplets. The overall effect is one of layering and, of course, is affected by decisions I make aesthetically during the entire process.” The technique, while demonstrating a painter’s concern with materials, applies an element of chance to the final appearance, and adds to the image a suggestion of weather – obvious precipitation or impending turbulence.

The effect is dramatic and distinctive and draws one closer. Individual pieces can seem moody and lovely at the same time, with grey tones over which colours pop or sift in – bright red notes, or pale pinks, silvers and golds that resonate with light. MacKay refers to the work as a hybrid of digital technology and traditional painting and mark making. His visions of alpine environs are a fresh and welcome addition to the more representative landscapes often painted by mountain-dwelling artists.

McKay, who served as a Canadian war artist in Somalia and Afghanistan, is also showing 15 pieces from his Court Painter computer-manipulated series of collages, at the Trianon Gallery, a former dance hall, in Lethbridge, Alta., until Oct. 30. These are drawn from MacKay’s prolific series of satiric visual commentaries on contemporary politics and social issues. He borrows from and combines the latest news, classic images and his invented character, the Court Painter, to create clever juxtapositions and comment. These images, mostly black and white, are regularly distributed by email to anyone wishing to receive them. The 15 pieces in this show are a small but representative selection from the hundreds he has made.