PHOTOTEXTRINUM
Sept 4-20, 2020
Weaving Light, Coaxing Death
“Thus hath the candle singd the moath.”
-William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
Spiderweb filaments both reflect and refract (the splitting of white light into its color components) light. The exploration of these scientific phenomena is at the heart of Phototextrinum(light weaving). Created using macrophotography, this 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, Phototextrinum invites the viewer to see past the cliché images of the web, to consider its true function: coaxing death.
About the Artist
Randall PC 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), he 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).
Read the article by Kate Cino at ArtOpenings.ca
Watch the short video interview with Randall here: