The Monte Clark Gallery Toronto is pleased to present ‘Gardens’, an exhibition of new work by Vancouver photographer Scott McFarland.

GARDENS
Scott McFarland
November 10 – December 23, 2004

Opening reception: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at 6:00pm. Artist in attendance.

Scott McFarland's vision has evolved out of a familiarity with the environments he photographs. Over several years he has created four bodies of work exploring such regional subjects as Vancouver gardens, the vernacular interior of a friend's cabin, a coastal boathouse and the traditional space of photography itself, the darkroom. Regardless of subject matter, throughout his practice the artist employs subtle digital alteration in order to reconcile a 'true' notion of the real with the limited one captured by the camera lens. McFarland’s alteration to the exposure and accurate colour correction return the image as much as possible to the original experience of the artist when the photograph was made.

‘Gardens’ invites the viewer to step into more than a private paradise. The space of the garden has long been affiliated with that of photography - many early photographers experimented with the cumbersome, expensive medium by photographing their immediate outdoor surroundings, and by functioning as an outdoor studio, the garden allowed them to overcome technical problems. McFarland’s own experimentation with digital technology and picture making in the garden suggests associations between the actions of gardening and those of photographic development processes. One group of four images depicts the micro-maintenance required to create the garden’s pristine appearance, echoing the photographer’s role in creating and perfecting the photographic print. At a more basic level both the plants of the garden and the medium of photography utilize light for exposure and energy, and liquids for hydration and processing. In two panoramic images the absence of human presence has relinquished the gardens from their previously manicured state, completing the narrative by suggesting the potential entropic fate of all gardens. McFarland's work thus represents iconic ideas about the local, linking them to the history of photography while using technology as a new way of representation, and as a means of accessing the purity of our original experience.

“Gardens” features work never before seen in Canada, including those recently showcased in the “Everything Gone Green” exhibition at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, U.K. McFarland has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, and Union Gallery in London, U.K. His work is in the collection of The National Gallery of Canada, and will be included in the upcoming exhibition, “The Space of Making”, at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverien.

Gallery Contact Page