Myfanwy Macleod: or There and Back Again is an ambitious new monograph on the work of Canadian artist Myfanwy Macleod. Focusing on a new body of sculptural work, produced specifically for Macleod's forthomcing solo show at Vancouver Art Gallery, the publication presents the artist's ambitions to deconstruct social hierarchies, using a varied pallette of culutral references.
Macleod's work has previously referenced cultural nodes as diverse as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jethro Tull's Bungle in the Jungle and the cartoons of Chuck Jones. Macleod makes these references through a combination of form, content and technique: recent work Dorothy, for example, comprises origami structures made from magazine cutouts of the famously murdered Playmate Dorothy Stratten.
In her new body of work, the work at the heart of or There and Back Again, Macleod explores the sexually evocative lyrics of Led Zeppelin and the novels of JRR Tolkien. A vast stack of Marshall amps, a skewed Chevrolet Camaro spinning on a rotisserie and monumentally exaggerated heavy metal band logos all feature in this exciting new book from one of Canada's foremost contemporary artists.
Grant Arnold is the Audain Curator of British Columbia Art, Vancouver Art Gallery. Over the past 20 years he has organized more than 35 exhibitions of historical, modern, and contemporary art. Recent exhibition projects have included Reece Terris: Ought Apartment, Mark Lewis: Modern Time, and Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs.
Josée Drouin-Brisebois is Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada and holds a Master's Degree in Art History (Contemporary Art) from the Université de Montréal, along with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Ottawa.
Dr Joseph Monteyne is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies MA/PhD Programs in Art History and Criticism at Stoney Brook State University, New York.
Cranfield and Slade, based in Vancouver, are made up of visual artist Kathy Slade and artist/musician Brady Cranfield.