PHANTASMAGORIA

Gallery Hours

30 minutes after sunset – midnight

The work of Alex McLeod realizes stunningly imaginative digital landscapes, alive with whimsical stories and characters. For Surrey Art Gallery’s offsite venue UrbanScreen, McLeod has developed a lens-based animation to be projected onto the west wall of Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre. His art uses digital software to create imagery that moves between two- and three-dimensional space, dissolving the facade between our own physical word and the imagined possibilities of elsewhere. In a constant game of elaboration, McLeod’s subjects remind us of the rules that govern our reality before breaking them in a colourful display of artifice.

McLeod’s subjects include impossible geometric constructions, vivid textures, and discontented (yet charming) creatures, drawn from a vibrant virtual world. These components are composed in an ever-evolving series of animated tableaux which playfully experiment with physics, light, and form. All the while, McLeod invites viewers to observe the struggles of the beings who inhabit these fantastic realms, reflecting upon our own projected desires and egos in the process.

A commissioned essay by Sky Goodden, as part of the Surrey Art Gallery Presents series, is available online here.