Preparations | Mack McFarland

For Mack, it all began with Kandinski and Goethe’s “Colors are the deeds and sufferings of light,” as well as Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk.” In the spirit of multi-media mania: Albers, Munsell, synesthesia, Smell-O-Vision, The Mysterium were all inspirations for this work. Preparations exhibits experiments in color, touch, sound and smell. The groundwork for these experiments was found in the notebooks of the late 19th early 20th century composer Alexander Scriabin. Applying Scriabin’s theories to NTSC color systems and working with g. norton on an original score, Preparations sets the stage for something to change. .

Mack McFarland is an interdisciplinary artist who splits his time between his home in Portland, Oregon and the 11th dimension. He works in many mediums, with a particular focus on video and drawing. Characterized by humor, mysticism, and the multi-sensory, his work invites the viewer to experience the intersection of the aesthetic and the cognitive. McFarland has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2006, he created a work for the PICA’s TBA festival, and recently finished a three-month-long project for the Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum, whish Sheila Farr of the Seattle Times called “startling, nutty and technologically relevant.”