Angell Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Summer Group Show: Alex McLeod + Michael De Feo

Angell Gallery is pleased to present the newest work by New York based artist Michael De Feo and Toronto based digital artist Alex McLeod. Curated by Angell Gallery co-director, Gareth Brown-Jowett, the exhibition runs from August 8th to August 29th.

Alex McLeod generates his landscapes using 3D rendering software. The resulting digital prints are reference to what Alex describes as, ‘his virtual installations playing off the idea of life cycles.’ He specifically aims to simulate the idea of recycled matter, and the interconnectedness of all living things through their molecular history. This is apparent in the work, Mountain Greyskull where voluminous smoke stacks and coniferous trees emit from bone. The trees stripped of their colour now share the same surface as the skull, and at first glance appear to be part of a whole. City Flicker Stars illustrates the same idea, however in reverse. A flooded city from a partially concealed geyser emits not only water, but also upward traveling ice skulls. Eventually melting to join the drippy clouds and continue the cycle. McLeod’s work, although macabre, is veiled and subdued in a hard candy coated shell. Alex McLeod graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in 2007. His work has been included in group exhibitions in New York, Minneapolis and Toronto. This will be Alex’s first exhibition with Angell Gallery.

Primarily a street artist, New York based Michael De Feo began painting his self portraits on the streets of New York and Miami in the spring of 2006. His portraits originally utilized civic infrastructure as a canvas. However, he now also produces paintings on canvas and board. The series of emotionally charged portraits on exhibit reflect De Feo’s self exploration which began in May of 2006 after his separation from his wife. De Feo combines rich pigments with urethane to create a highly viscous and sometimes translucent material which he pulls and drips across the surface of antique maps mounted to canvas or board. The maps reference De Feo’s street based work and serve as way to place the artist’s mark or tag without having to visit the location. Michael De Feo has been creating street art for over sixteen years and his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world including MASS MoCA, Boston; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY; The A3 Art Fair, Paris; Mainfesta 7 and the National Gallery, Bangladesh. He has been featured in New York Magazine as well as a number of film documentaries. This will be his second exhibition with Angell Gallery.

Review by Gary Michael Dault in The Globe and Mail.