Randall McGinnis: Phototextrinum
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Xchanges Artists' Gallery and Studios 6E-2333 Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8T 4P4
Randall McGinnis, "Phototextrinum," 2020
Opening: Friday September 4th, 7-9pm
PHOTOTEXTRINUM
Weaving Light, Coaxing Death
"Thus hath the candle singd the moath."
-William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
Spiderweb filaments both reflect and refract light. The exploration of these scientific phenomena is at the heart of Phototextrinum (light weaving). Created using macrophotography, McGinnis' most recent body of work places the viewer within the realm of the insect. Here, the optical properties of spiderweb silk functionally weave light into a trap that either seeks to attract, like a moth to a candle, or to disorient the insect through vibrant colour. By presenting the spiderweb in a way we do not normally see it, Phototextrinum invites the viewer to see past the cliché images of the web, and consider its true function: coaxing death.
Randall McGinnis takes on our primal fears about spiders, entrapment and death in Phototextrinum. He does so like a clever spider weaving a perfect web, using intriguing visual images and radiant filaments of light. (Textrinum means weaving in latin.) “My hope is that the viewer, inspired by the beauty, will fundamentally shift their opinions about spiders,” he says.
Artist's Bio
Randall P.C. McGinnis is an emerging multidisciplinary artist from Victoria BC, whose art practice is strongly influenced by his scholastic and professional experience in the fields of microbiology and medicine. A recent graduate of Camosun College’s Visual Arts Program (2017), McGinnis was the recipient of the Jessie Allan Forsyth Memorial Scholarship Portfolio Award.
His most recent body of work, Phototextrinum, opens September 4th, 2020 at Xchanges Gallery, Victoria, BC.