Keight MacLean

Toronto based artist. OCADU and Florence Program alumna. Intrigued by our connection to the distant past, my work combines elements of Baroque and Renaissance painting with modern techniques and themes. Having studied in Florence, Italy, I've spent intimate time observing the Old Masters first hand and bring much of their influence to my work. Working with experimental, often destructive, unstable techniques, I push the contrast between the imagery and the object of the painting itself as a means of questioning our similarities and differences between what we hold dear about the past. My work addresses issues of societal beauty ideals, substance abuse and sexuality, using the images of the past as a point of comparison and questioning how far we've progressed in the past century.