September Issue 2001
UNC-Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, to Feature Rod MacKillop Retrospective
The UNC-Charlotte Art Department in Charlotte, NC, honors one of its long-time faculty members, Rod MacKillop, with a retrospective exhibition of 50 of his paintings and drawings selected from a period of 34 years. Rod MacKillop's Paintings 1967-2001, will occupie both Main and Upper Galleries in the Rowe Arts Building on campus from Oct. 5 through Nov. 2, 2001.
For most of his career, MacKillop has worked
in a figurative tradition. A recurring image in his work is a
running man, often dressed in a business suit.
A previous retrospective, organized by the Asheville Art Museum
and Curators' Forum, toured four NC museums twelve years ago.
This current retrospective exhibition is roughly twice the size
of the retrospective organized by the Asheville Art Museum and
Curator's Forum, in 1989-90. Included here but not in the previous
show are examples of the box and barn series of the late 1970s,
a selection of works on paper, along with various developments
in MacKillop's work during the past 12 years.
Looking back, what stands out most strongly over three decades is a continuing preoccupation with depicting the human figure in symbolic or stylized form. The male figure, especially, has served a variety of expressive purposes-autobiographical image, archetypal symbol and vehicle for social commentary. Focus on the male figure and MacKillop's take on male experience grew out of his interest in the women's movement and feminist art in the early 1970s, in particular the emphasis on exploration of gender roles and identity. MacKillop says, "Artistically, my intent has been to explore aspects of male experience in visual form, just as many early feminist artists were doing with female experience. A large portion of my work for the next several years reflects this early perspective."
Overtly autobiographical content is evident in Blue Shoes for My Father (1984), which shows MacKillop's father, hands in pockets, wearing the intensely blue running shoes he gave him for his seventy-first birthday. Also from personal experience are Diamond (1967) and Wounded Man (1968), images of two fellow students he knew in art school. Examples of the male figure as archetypal symbol occur in Man on the Beach (1984) and Floating Man with Dog (1987), which embody spiritual states of being in material terms. Examples of social commentary are those paintings depicting men (and occasionally women) in business suits, engaged in obscure corporate activities. Last Convocation (2001), in which academic regalia serves as a kind of corporate garb, combines elements of autobiography, symbol, and social commentary within the same piece.
The only sustained body of work in the exhibition which does not contain the human figure is the box and barn series of 1975-1981. In these paintings the "figure" is an abstract box structure, presented on a relatively small scale. Later the boxes evolved into five large (90" x 72") house/barn images, two of which are in this exhibition. The box structure appears in many subsequent paintings as an element of the man-made environment, such as dwellings, city buildings, and interior edges and planes which play off against the figure or figures present.
For more information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the gallery at 704/687-4454.
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